In some US states, one small but very beautiful bird is recognized as a symbol. It is also called very representatively - the cardinal bird. This is a very loud and important name for such a small creature of nature. How did this bird deserve such respect? Beautiful singing or bright, cheerful colors? Who hunts the red cardinal and what does he eat? These and other questions can be answered in this article.
What do cardinals look like
The northern cardinal is a small bird that lives in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Its other name is red cardinal or virgin cardinal. For the fact that, in addition to her beautiful appearance, this baby also has a gorgeous voice, she is also often called the virgin nightingale.
The most famous feature of this bird is its bright red plumage. The most beautiful males. Their feathers are bright crimson, and around the beak andtheir eyes are black. It seems that he is wearing a mysterious black mask, giving the cardinal a special mystery. Their feet are also reddish-brown.
Females are much less bright, mostly grayish-brown feathers. Red blotches are present only on the wings. But that doesn't make them any less beautiful.
The red cardinal rarely exceeds 23-25 cm in size, and the wingspan can reach 30 cm. They also weigh a little: a large adult male barely reaches 50 grams.
Where such beauty is found
The red cardinal is a bird with bright plumage and a beautiful voice. Its natural habitat is the territory of many eastern states of America, and cardinals can also be found in Mexico, Canada and Guatemala.
In the early eighteenth century, Virginian cardinals were artificially brought to Bermuda. The local nature came to their liking, so they are happy to live there today.
Artificially Virginian cardinal was also bred in California and Hawaii. The experiment was successful, the birds acclimatized well and took root.
The first legend of the cardinal
The Indians of North America have their own theories, or rather, beautiful legends that tell how the red cardinal got his gorgeous plumage.
The first one is like this. Once a wolf wanted to hunt a cunning raccoon. Saving his skin, the raccoon hid in the bushes near the stream and hid. Extremely thirsty, the wolf approachedto the water and saw in the waves a reflection of his future prey. Without thinking that he was only seeing the reflection of a raccoon in the water, the wolf jumped on him and nearly drowned.
With great difficulty, the predator got out of the water to the shore and fell asleep from fatigue. While he was sleeping, a cunning raccoon crept up to him and, in retaliation, covered his eyes with clay. When the wolf woke up, he could not open his eyes and thought he was blind. From despair, he sobbed throughout the forest, but no one wanted to help him.
Wolf's cry was heard by a small bird, it flew to the rescue and removed the clay from the predator's eyes. Gray wanted to thank his savior. He took her to the red rocks and painted the plumage of the bird with the sand there. Since then, the cardinal has such beautiful crimson feathers.
Legend 2
There is another legend according to which the red cardinal is the daughter of the Sun. Once the Sun was offended by people for the fact that when they look at him, they always squint. From resentment, it began to fry so much that many people died.
The sorcerer intervened in the situation. He said that in order for everything to work out, the Sun must be killed. For this purpose, he turned two men into snakes and sent them to the luminary. But it turned out that it was not the Sun itself that suffered from the snake venom, but his beloved daughter. Then the luminary was offended and left the firmament forever.
The heat subsided, but complete darkness set in, people were again unhappy and went to the sorcerer. He said that in order for the Sun to forgive them, you need to return his beloved daughter from the world of the dead. The sorcerer gavepeople a special box to carry it, and ordered in no case to open the lid on the way. People stole the daughter of the Sun from the dead, put her in a box and carried her back, but on the way she began to complain and cry that she was suffocating. Then the porters opened the lid for a second to let in some air, and immediately slammed it shut, but it did not help.
When they came to the luminary, it turned out that the box was empty. Then people remembered that at the time when they opened the lid, a small beautiful bird fluttered around them. It was into her that the girl turned.
Behavior of birds in nature
Most often, the red cardinal settles where people live nearby - in gardens and parks. May also inhabit forest areas, swamps and bushes.
The main natural enemies of these beautiful birds are larger birds of prey: hawks, owls, shrikes. Squirrels, chipmunks and snakes also harm cardinals - they spoil and destroy eggs and chicks left unattended.
Nutrition and reproduction
The red cardinal is rather unpretentious in food. It feeds on berries, various seeds and grains. With pleasure, he can also eat a cicada, a grasshopper, various bugs and even snails. If you place a feeder near the habitat of the red cardinal, he will not be picky and will gratefully peck at any offered delicacy.
The red cardinal is a monogamous bird, he chooses a companion for living together once and does not change hispreferences. The female virginian cardinal herself builds a nest for future offspring. She usually lays 2-4 eggs in one clutch and incubates the babies for about 2 weeks.
Caring "daddy" feeds his chosen one and sometimes even replaces her in the process of incubation. But when the chicks are born, the process of upbringing passes "in the paws and beak" of the father.
