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Health & Fitness

Michigan's Amazing Wildlife

The Northern Cardinal - This bird is perhaps responsible for getting more people to open up a field guide than any other bird. This photo was taken in White Lake Michigan by George Stewart.

The Male Northern Cardinal is perhaps responsible for getting more people to open up a field guide than any other bird. They're a perfect combination of familiarity, beauty, conspicuous and style: a shade of red you cant take your eyes off. Even the brown females have a sharp crest and warm red accents. Cardinals don't migrate and they don't molt into plumage, so they're are very, very breathtaking against a snowy branch in the winter. In the summer, their call which sounds like a whistle, is one of the first things you will hear in the morning. Generally speaking in the bird world, the males have the brightest colors and are far more attractive than the females. This most certainly stands true for the Cardinals.

Cardinal pairs are monogamous and have a feeding courtship ritual in which the female bird mimics the behavior of a nestling and the male bird offers her seeds and berries. The male will also care for the female while she tends the nest. One pair of Cardinals may raise 2-4 broods annually of 3-4 eggs each. Eggs are incubated by the female for 12-14 days and the hatching's will leave the nest in 9-12 days.

Northern Cardinals can be shy visitors are most likely to visit areas that have allot of low ground cover such as bushes and honeysuckle hedges. Adding cracked corn, safflower seeds and black oil sunflower seeds are an invitation for the Cardinals and it wont take long before you see them. They also are attracted to bird baths as they are meticulous about their appearance. In time, a very patient birder may be able to hand feed a cardinal.

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