A view of Rancocas Creek (Image by Michelle Horowitz)
Today was a chilly but lovely day, so we ended up birding at two parks for day 3. First my in-laws joined me for a hike at Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area. We saw 10 species, with highlights including Eastern Bluebirds and a pair of Northern Mockingbirds. There also was a beautiful male Northern Cardinal who posed for a picture.
A beautiful male Northern Cardinal (Image by Michelle Horowitz)
Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area (10 species, 66 individuals)
3 Canada Geese
24 Mallards
14 Ring-billed Gulls
12 Turkey Vultures
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Tufted Titmouse
2 Northern Mockingbirds
4 Eastern Bluebirds
4 Dark-eyed Juncos
1 Northern Cardinal
After Boundary Creek I ended up going to Strawbridge Lake. There have been some Common Mergansers in the area, so I wanted to see if they were around today. I started noticing Common Mergansers at Strawbridge within in the past 5 years, which was a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately they weren’t at the lake today but I did see some other species.
Strawbridge Lake (12 species, 38 individuals)
13 Canada Geese
4 Mallards
3 Mourning Doves
2 Ring-billed Gulls
2 Turkey Vulture
1 Downy Woodpecker
3 American Robins
4 House Sparrows
1 House Finch
2 Dark-eyed Juncos
2 White-throated Sparrows
1 Northern Cardinal
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology released their “halftime report” today. At the time of writing this post, 7,373 species have been seen and over 191,000 checklists have been submitted from 192 countries. Last year’s species total was 7,538, so it would be amazing to see if that total could be beat this year.
Today we explored Palmyra Cove Nature Park for a little snow birding. Last night we ended up getting a few inches of snow and by mid-morning it already started melting! It seems like Palmyra got a little less snow than where I live, but it was nice to be out in the quiet of winter.
We were greeted by a number of songbirds right in the parking lot: a first-of-year Brown Creeper, White-throated Sparrows, a Northern Cardinal pair, a Tufted Titmouse, Dark-eyed Juncos, and a Downy Woodpecker. A female Bufflehead at the beaver pond was a pleasant surprise as hundreds of gulls flew overhead. We even saw a mink! We ended our walk with 4 Cedar Waxwings near the visitor center. Overall we observed 17 species.
Palmyra Cove Nature Park (17 species, 314 individuals)
9 Canada Geese
2 Mallards
1 Bufflehead
1 Mourning Dove
60 Ring-billed Gulls
150 Herring Gulls
1 Turkey Vulture
3 Downy Woodpeckers
1 Hairy Woodpecker
5 Tufted Titmice
2 White-breasted Nuthatches
1 Brown Creeper
3 Carolina Wrens
4 Cedar Waxwings
16 Dark-eyed Juncos
50 White-throated Sparrows
5 Northern Cardinals
Bufflehead female (Image by Michelle Horowitz)Angry Canada Geese (Image by Michelle Horowitz)
We are halfway through the count weekend and Team BirdNation has observed 36 different bird species and 2,412 individuals. Other fun finds the last two days were a mink, deer, and a backhoe. Let’s see what the second half of the weekend will bring.
Have you participated in the first two days of the bird count? Share some species you saw in the comments below.
There’s been quite a buzz the last few weeks in the bird world about this picture:
Yellow Northern Cardinal (Image by Jeremy Black)
Nope, that’s not Photo-shopped. That is a real yellow Northern Cardinal.
The story of this cardinal began back in January, when it was spotted by birdwatcher Charlie Stephenson of Alabaster, Alabama. She was looking at her feeder when she noticed a yellow bird, but did not realized right away that it was a Northern Cardinal.
So she contacted ornithologist Geoffrey Hill of Auburn University and her friend, photographer Jeremy Black, to take pictures of this rarity. The cardinal stuck around Stephenson’s yard for a few weeks. At the end of February the photo of the cardinal went viral on Facebook.
So how exactly did this Northern Cardinal, which is normal red, become yellow?
Pigments are found in both plants and animals. In birds, pigments are found independent of feather structure. There are three pigment groups found in birds: carotenoids, porphyrines, and melanin.
Carotenoids are responsible for pigments found in birds that are yellow, red, and orange. Since carotenoids are produced by plants, birds with these pigments get them by ingesting plant material or something that ate the plant material. The quality of a bird’s diet plays a role in how brightly-colored feathers are. Birds with a poor diet will be paler in pigments than a bird with a richer diet. A theory from some scientist and birders is that diet as well as environmental factors may be affecting this cardinal’s color.
Ornithologist Geoffrey Hill believes that the yellow cardinal has xanthochroism. This is a genetic mutation where the carotenoid pigments being drawn in by the bird’s diet are yellow instead of red. Xanthochroism has been seen in other birds such as House Finches, Evening Grosbeaks, and other Northern Cardinals.
Whether the cardinal’s color is due to genetics, environmental factors, or diet, it really is quite beautiful. It’s certainly a very special and lovely sight to see.
Have you ever seen a bird that was a different color than it was supposed to be? Tell me about it in the comments.
This post is not about Northern Cardinals, it’s about Cardinals.
Wait…what? That was probably your reaction, but it’s true: this post is about Cardinals, not Northern Cardinals.
Let’s backtrack for a moment. What do you think of when someone says the word “cardinal”? You probably think of a handsome bright red male with a black face and red bill or a beautiful reddish-brown female with a red-orange bill. Right?
Cardinal Pair (Image via fanpop.com)
The cardinal we’re most familiar with is the Northern Cardinal, of which I described above. But what if I told you that the Northern Cardinal is not the only cardinal around? And that cardinals can have other names, such as Scarlet Tanager or Blue Grosbeak? (Now you’re probably completely confused haha)
Many people don’t realized that the term “Cardinal” is used to describe a whole family of birds. The family name is Cardinalidae, which consists of 18species and 7 genera (in North America that is. Worldwide there are 52 species in 11 genera).This family includes grosbeaks, tanagers, and buntings, as well as the Northern Cardinal which bears the family name and its Southwestern cousin, the Pyrrhuloxia.
As with all families, members of the Cardinal family have similar characteristics. These include:
Bright and boldly colored males, females with brown tones
Small to medium-sized, with stock bodies and relatively short tails, with males being slightly larger
Stout conical bills (finch-like)
Being primarily found in woodlands, brushy areas, and hedgerows
Primarily feeding on fruits and seeds in the winter and insects and larvae in the summer
Building cup-shaped nests in shrubs of trees
Musical songs with whistled or warbled phrases, sharp and distinct calls (some females, such as the Northern Cardinal, Black-headed Grosbeak, and Pyrrhuloxia, sing too)
The following Cardinals are found in North America:
Genus Piranga: Hepatic Tanager, Summer Tanager, Scarlet Tanager, Western Tanager, Flame-colored Tanager
Genus Pheucticus: Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Black-headed Grosbeak
Genus Rhodothraupis: Crimson-collard Grosbeak
Genus Cardinalis: Northern Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia
Genus Cyanocompsa: Blue Bunting
Genus Passerina: Blue Grosbeak, Lazuli Bunting, Indigo Bunting, Varied Bunting, Painted Bunting
So the next time someone says something like “Hey, did you see a cardinal? “ or “Do you like cardinals?” you can answer back with “What kind?” (and really confuse them like I did in the beginning of this post). Then you can teach all your friends about the fascinating world of the family Cardinalidae :-).
What’s your favorite member of the Cardinalidae family? Tell me in the comments. (Mine are the Indigo Bunting, Scarlet Tanager, and of course, the beloved Northern Caridnal)
For the final day of GBBC 2017 I went with Maria, my sister Mary, and my mom to Smithville Park. Last year my mom, sister, and I went to Smithville for the count while the lake was frozen and it was snowing (you can read about our trip last year here). This year it was cool and breezy, but much warmer. Instead of just walking around the lake we took the longer trail into Smith’s Woods.
One of the first birds we spotted was this lovely female Northern Cardinal. We heard chipping coming from the trees and it took us a few minutes to find the source of the sound. She flew over and perched on a nearby tree to allow us to admire her. I think female cardinals are so beautiful.
Female Cardinal (Image by BirdNation)
Last year Common Mergansers spent part of the winter on Smithville Lake. They are back again this winter. As usual, they were just out of good camera range for me, but they were fun to watch. They were actually sleeping for a bit (Common Mergansers float on the water while sleeping). I’m happy that they returned to Smithville again. They were also a life bird for Maria, making it her second life bird this weekend.
Carolina Chickadee (Image by BirdNation)
Day 4 Official Count
7 Canada Geese
12 Common Mergansers
4 Black Vultures
7 Turkey Vultures
2 Red-tailed Hawks
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker (male)
2 Downy Woodpeckers (male and female)
1 Hairy Woodpecker (drumming)
2 Blue Jays
2 American Crows
8 Carolina Chickadees
5 Tufted Titmice
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Carolina Wren
3 Northern Cardinals (2 male, 1 female)
It was so fun birding 4 days in a row for the 2017 Great Backyard Bird Count. We won’t know the official results for a few days, but it was a record-setting year for us at BirdNation. These past 4 days Dave, Maria, Mary, my mom, and myself count 45 different species and over 5,000 individual birds! What a weekend!
Every morning I hear these songs in the trees outside my bedroom window. And yes, they are songs, not car alarms going off (although it does sound like that!). It’s a Northern Cardinal, singing its little heart out.
Now that spring is back, birds are arriving from their winter homes and getting ready to raise their families. The dawn chorus is assembling again. Dawn chorus is a term that many people use to describe when all the birds sing in the morning. When you hear a singing bird it usually is a male, but that’s not always the case. One of the exception to the “only-males-sing” idea is the Northern Cardinal. Th female Northern Cardinal also sings.
Northern Cardinals are very vocal songbirds. You can hear cardinals sing all year round, not just during the spring. They have about sixteen different calls and ten different songs.(We will talk about the difference between songs and calls in another post, because that would take a whole post to explain.)
(Image by Bonnie Taylor Barry via birdnote.org)
While singing a cardinal pair may perform a duet. The male will sing a short song (about 2 to 3 seconds long) and the female will answer back, but at a softer volume. They will go back and forth for a bit with their beautiful duet. The female’s reply, or lack thereof, will determine when a male will bring food to the nest. Sometimes as they are singing they will move closer together and eventually meet up.
I have a very fond memory of a Northern Cardinal duet from a few years ago. It’s from the time before Dave and I became birders. Dave and I have been together for almost eight years now, and although we’ve developed our passion for birding within the past few years, we have always enjoyed going to parks. While in college we would frequently walk in Alcyon Park, which was in a neighboring town. We were looking out over a meadow when we heard a beautiful song.
“Cheer, cheer, cheer, cheer!” It was a stunning bright red male Northern Cardinal, singing from a nearby branch. In the distance we heard a faint ‘cheer-cheer-cheer-cheer!”
“Wow, someone is answering back!” We listening closely. The male, with his strong voice sang again. And there was the echo, still faint but seemingly a little closer.
This went on for a few minutes. We continued to listen intently to the lovely duet that was being performed right in front of us. The cardinals seem didn’t realize they had an audience. And after each partner made their reply the song seemed to move closer until suddenly there she was!
The female, with her gorgeous red and olive plumage! She landed right next to him on his perch. What a beautiful pair they made. Listening to this pair serenade each other was such a moving experience for me. I didn’t spend a ton of time in nature growing up, so I was really touched by the Northern Cardinal duet. Little did I know a few years later I would be having all sorts of wonderful bird experiences on a daily basis.
The Northern Cardinal duet at Alcyon Park was about six years ago, but it still feels so real and present as I reminisce on the experience. Those little cardinals captured my heart during that duet. Since that day every time I see a cardinal it is a magical moment for me.
Do you have a magical bird moment? I would love to hear your stories in the comments.
BirdNation 