Birds

The Cardinal
Hear The Sound a Cardinal Makes

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By request of the North Carolina Bird Club, Senator Rivers D. Johnson of Duplin County introduced a bill to name the Cardinal as the official State Bird.

After passing in the Senate, it was turned over to Representative Willie Lee Lumpkin of Franklin County, who piloted it through the House. The bill was passed by the House on March 4, 1943 and ratified on March 8.

North Carolina was the fifth state to adopt the cardinal, a symbol it shares with Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.

The Cardinal is the only "redbird" present during the winter and sometimes is called the Winter Redbird. The Cardinal is present in North Carolina year-round in gardens, meadows, and woodlands.

The male Cardinal is red all over, except for the area of its throat and the region around its bill which is black; it is about the size of a Catbird only with a longer tail. The head is conspicuously crested and the large stout bill is red.

The female is much duller in color with the red confined mostly to the crest, wings, and tail. This difference in coloring is common among many birds. Since it is the female that sits on the nest, her coloring must blend more with her natural surroundings to protect her eggs and young from predators. There are no seasonal changes in her plumage.

The Cardinal is a fine singer, and what is unusual is that the female sings as beautifully as the male. The male generally monopolizes the art of song in the bird world. The nest of the Cardinal is rather an untidy affair built of weed stems, grass and similar materials in low shrubs, small trees or bunches of briars, generally not over four feet above the ground.

The usual number of eggs set is three in this State and four further North. Possibly the Cardinal raises an extra brood down here to make up the
difference, or possibly the population is more easily maintained here by the more moderate winters compared to the colder North.

The Cardinal is by nature a seed eater, but he does not dislike small fruits and insects.