Northern cardinal, the state bird of North Carolina

How to recognize it

The northern cardinal is a sturdy, long-tailed songbird about 8 to 9 inches long, a bit smaller than an American robin. The male is bright red all year, with a black mask around a short, very thick, cone-shaped reddish bill and a pointed crest; it is the only red bird with a crest in eastern North America. The female is warm brown to grayish, with reddish tints on the wings, tail and crest, and has the same crest, dark face and big pinkish bill. Young birds start out with dark bills.

Both males and females sing loud, clear whistled phrases. The usual call is a sharp, metallic chip.

How it lives

Cardinals feed largely on seeds, along with insects and their larvae, berries, wild fruit, buds and some sap, usually hopping on the ground or through low shrubs. Pairs stay together, and the female builds a cup nest hidden in dense shrubs or vines, often 3 to 10 feet off the ground. She may raise two or three broods a year.

Where to see one in North Carolina

Because cardinals do not migrate, they can be seen in North Carolina in every season, in backyards, town parks, hedgerows and brushy woodland edges. Sunflower seed draws them to feeders.

Doing well

The northern cardinal is a species of least concern. Audubon calls it widespread and abundant, with numbers probably stable after a long expansion of its range. Once mainly a southeastern bird, it has pushed north into southeastern Canada over the past century.

The state bird since 1943

North Carolina’s first state bird did not last. In 1933 the Legislature named the Carolina chickadee, then repealed the resolution about a week later, partly because lawmakers did not want the state’s bird known as the tomtit. A decade later the North Carolina Bird Club ran a statewide poll in which more than 23,000 votes were cast for 26 candidate birds. The cardinal led with about 5,000 votes, ahead of the dove with 3,395, and the Legislature made it the state bird on March 8, 1943. Six other states, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia, have also chosen the cardinal.