Northern Cardinal

Even our neighbors see more cardinals than do we. A record number for us on 14 March was a male and four females—this bird is one of the females. I suspect cardinals prefer more bus=y habitat than we offer. I am surprised by her ragged tail. Perhaps all the snow of the past month has forced cardinals to feed more heavily on the ground, with resulting tail feather wear. This is just an hypothesis, since I lack supporting data. In any case, Northern Cardinals do not migrate. Although young birds tend to randomly disperse after fledging, no banded breeding bird has ever been recovered at a great distance the following winter (Halkin and Linville 1999).