Cardinal Differences 4
People seemed interested in the difference between adult and young cardinals, so I have a few more photos. Above is an adult female cardinal perched on a feeder with a tufted titmouse. You can tell from this photo that she is female because she has brown on her body as well as some red. But note the orange bill–that’s how you can tell she is an adult.
Here is a young cardinal. Even though the bill is slightly obscured, you can still see that it is dark and not bright orange, which is a sign that this bird was hatched this summer. There’s an even better example of it here. I love that above photo, see how that young bird is watching the nuthatch on the feeder, she’s trying to work out in her head how she can access that food source, she’s wondering how she can perch on that feeder.
She was part of a family group of four. Above, she’s on the ground with what I presume is her nest mate since they were feeding without squabbling.
He’s still in that awkward phase, growing in his red feathers, you can even see the hint of a beard. Kind of like those 13 year old boys you knew in school who could grow those peach fuzz mustaches when puberty hits.
Love the picture of the young male. Gorgeous bird.
Do both male and female cardinals look the same when they’re newly hatched?
Just got a great shot of a baby card in my feeder, sitting right in the middle of the tray like the whole thing belonged to it! Do you know if Cardinals come back to the same nest? By accident we found their nest this year after they had left it & wonder if we’ll see them next season. Like your nest this is in a forsythia bush right next to the street and I marveled yesterday at them staying there as the trash trucks rumbled down the street squealing their brakes at every house!
thanks for the more cardinals, I love them, they look like they hava an attitude