The Return Of The Cardinals

Yesterday, it was 14 degrees outside. I was walking through the kitchen and noticed there were 5 cardinals on the deck railing--3 male and 2 female. I knew why they were there. They wanted food.

Two male Northern Cardinals waiting for food.

I put on my coat and headed for the feeders. The cardinals arrive in force by mid-January. I don't know why they pick that time of year but they do. Then they sit and wait in the woods. Today, they had enough of the waiting and came up to get me to feed them.

This is how the woods look in January.

The woods fill up with the cardinals and you see specks of red throughout the woods. You also see brown tinged with red too--the females. I have three places to feed the cardinals. One is under the abelias, another is under the butterfly bushes, and the third is the black oil sunflower seed (BOSS) feeder. Under the abelias, they get sunflower hearts--shelled sunflower seeds. That is to keep the gardens from filling up with BOSS shells.

A male and female cardinal wait their chance

under the butterfly bushes. Their friends, the

white-throated sparrows, wait with them.

 

The cardinals get along with the other birds. However, they do argue with each other. The males will be chasing each other soon. The females will hiss at each other, from time to time.

 

(Originally published on January 31, 2010)

 

Northern Cardinal