Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis

Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis cardinalis, Juvenile, Male. Photographs taken within a residential community in the greater Fort Lauderdale area,  September 2021. Photograph and identification courtesy of Faith Hubsch, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis affinis, Male. Photograph taken within a residential community in Alamos, Sonora, February 2018. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis igneus, Males. Photographs taken from within a residential community in the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, March 2012. Photograph courtesy of Carol Snow, Del Mar, California.

Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis igneus, Female. Photograph taken from within a residential community in the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, March 2012. Photograph courtesy of Carol Snow, Del Mar, California.

Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis superbus, Male. Photograph taken within the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Southern Arizona, March 2018. Photograph courtesy of Dr. Tom Bartol, Carlsbad, California.

The Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardnalis igneus and Cardinals cardinalis superbus, are two of eighteen subspecies of Northern Cardinal, fifteen of which are found in Mexico. They are a member of the Cardinalidae Family of Cardinals and Allies, which has forty-nine members placed in fourteen genera, and one of three global species of the Cardinalis Genus. They are one of the most easily recognized, most abundant and best studied birds in North America. They are the State Bird of seven states in the United States. They are known in Mexico as cardenal norteño. They are named for the male’s red plumage.

The Northern Cardinal is medium-sized songbird. They are strongly sexually dichromatic with the males being a brilliant red and females are being primarily grayish tan with red on the wings, tail, and crest, and small amounts of red on the face and upper breast and a black face mask surrounding their bill. The females have a pail gray to black face mask. Their bill is heavily conical with a prominent crest and is orange-red, their iris is deep brown or black, and their legs and feet are medium brown with pink or orange tinges.

The Northern Cardinal are typically found within shrubs and small trees, including forest edges and interior, shrubby areas in logged and second-growth forests, marsh edges, grasslands with shrubs, successional fields, hedgerows in agricultural fields, plantings around buildings, peatlands, riparian forests, mangrove forests, and desert scrub. They are generally solitary individuals but will form flocks in during certain periods of the year. They are omnivorous with a diet consisting mainly of fruits, insects, and seeds. Their red plumage color results from ingestion, metabolic conversion, and deposition of carotenoid pigments obtained from the diet during molt. Their nests are subject to very high predation rates. They are known for their unique song. They have life spans of up to sixteen years.

The Northern Cardinal is a year-round resident of Mexico being found in along the Pacific Slope in Baja California Sur, Sonora and Sinaloa and from the United States boarder south to Belize within the Atlantic Slope and interior. The affinis subspecies is found in west-central Mexico in southeastern Sonora, southwestern Chihuahua, Sinaloa and western Durango. The cardinalis subspecies is found throughout the eastern United States. The igneus subspecies is found only in Baja California Sur. The superbus subspecies is found in northern Sonora.

From a conservation perspective the Northern Cardinal is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. Their populations have been expanding which has been attributed to human habitation. They are frequent visitors to home bird feeders.