Northern Cardinal

Here's a Northern Cardinal picture from last December. Similar to yesterday's post of a Gray Catbird, the cardinal had food on his mind, and I suspect those are more Multiflora Rose berries in his mouth. (At least those look like Multiflora Rose thorns on some of those branches.)

Note that I said his/he; only the adult males have the flamboyant red plumage, and while some birds (I'm looking at you, American Goldfinch) only have bright plumage during breeding season, the Northern Cardinal males look this way all year round. This is an interesting evolutionary "choice" that the Northern Cardinal has made. I'm sure their bright coloring has attracted unwanted attention from Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks, it probably does ensure that only the strongest, wiliest males survive to breeding season to pass on their genes to the next generation [1].

Although Northern Cardinals are common enough that we may take them for granted, people who haven't seen them before are probably wowed by these bright red fellas.

December 13, 2022 at Washington Valley Park
Photo 251087119, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

[1] Any species that's survived for you to be able to see it has to be doing something right, even if some of its traits seem poorly adapted for an environment.

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