From Opus

Photo by SulairDH
Adult Male
Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Cardinalis cardinalis

[edit] Identification

Length: 7.75 inches
All ages and sexes have a crest and large, conical bill
Male
All red with black mask and chin. Wings have some gray. Orange bill
Female
Brown overall with some red in wings, face, and tail. Red bill
Juvenile
Similar to female but bill is dark instead of red.

Juvenile Female
Photo by Larry D Smith

[edit] Distribution

United States and Mexico.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies

There are 18 subspecies^[1]:

• C. c. superbus: Extremese California to Arizona, south-western New Mexico and northern Sonora
• C. c. seftoni: Central Baja California (south to latitude 27°N)
• C. c. igneus: Southern Baja California (north to latitude 27°N)
• C. c. clintoni: Isla Cerralvo (Gulf of California)

Juvenile Male
Photo by Larry D Smith

• C. c. townsendi: Isla Tiburón (Sea of Cortés) and adjacent coastal Sonora
• C. c. affinis: Western Mexico (south-eastern Sonora to south-western Chihuahua and western Durango)
• C. c. sinaloensis: Coastal western Mexico (Sinaloa and Jalisco)
• C. c. mariae: Tres Marías Islands (off western Mexico)
• C. c. carneus: (Long Crested) Coastal western Mexico (Colima to Isthmus of Tehuántepec)
• C. c. cardinalis: Eastern US
• C. c. floridanus: South-eastern Georgia and peninsula Florida
• C. c. magnirostris: South-eastern Texas and southern Louisiana
• C. c. canicaudus: Western Oklahoma and western Texas to east-central Mexico
• C. c. coccineus: Eastern Mexico (eastern San Luis Potosí, Veracruz, north-eastern Puebla and n Oaxaca)
• C. c. littoralis: Lowlands of eastern Mexico (southern Veracruz and Tabasco)
• C. c. yucatanicus: South-eastern Mexico (Yucatán Peninsula)
• C. c. flammiger: South-eastern Mexico (southern Quintana Roo), Belize and Petén of northern Guatemala
• C. c. saturatus: Cozumel Island (off Quintana Roo)

[edit] Habitat

Suburban Woodlands and parks, mixed forests and forest edges, back yards, high desert.

[edit] Behaviour

Winter flocks can be very large, up to 60 or 70 individuals in areas of abundance.

[edit] Diet

Their diet consists mostly of fruit and berries, buds, seeds and flowers, insects being included during the summer.

[edit] Vocalisation

Song: a clear whistling song. Females will sing along with the male.
It appears there may be varying accents in different localities.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Cornell
3. BF Member observations

• List of references

[edit] External Links