The Northern Cardinal is a member of the cardinal family of birds in North America. The bird's name comes from the red-robed Roman Catholic Cardinals. Its crested head is also said to resemble a bishop's mitre. Cardinals have been also referred to as redbirds and Virginia nightingales. They have loud voices and one song in their repertoire is said to sound like What cheer! Cheer, cheer, cheer!
Cardinals are abundant across the eastern United States from Maine to Texas and in Canada in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. Their range extends west to the U.S.-Mexico border and south through Mexico to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, northern Guatemala, and northern Belize. They were introduced to Bermuda in 1700. They have also been introduced in Hawaii, and Southern California. Their natural habitats are woodlands, suburbs, gardens, swamps and thickets.
It is the state bird of North Carolina, West Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Virginia.
The Northern Cardinal is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2012 by BirdLife International. This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
This adorable t-shirt design features four of our Birdorable birds that are common in back yards across the United States and Canada. The birds that are perched together in this original cartoon design are:Â American Goldfinch, Northern... Read more »
Add Birdorable birds to your Christmas gift wrapping this year for some cute holiday cheer! Here are two fun ideas that combine our cartoon cuties with your own creativity! Free Birdorable labels to print out and color Print... Read more »
