Men and Women Are Not Always So Different

Today, an adult female cardinal came in. While not as brilliantly colored as the familiar bright red male cardinals, female cardinals are still beautiful birds.




Female cardinals are colored a dull brown but still retain streaks of red in the feathers. Like males, they also have a bright orange or red beak and darker markings around the mouth and eyes. Both sexes also have a crest of feathers atop their head.

In most species of songbirds, the males do all of the singing. However, in the Northern Cardinal, males and females sing. Many people believe that the female's song is to alert her mate as to when to bring food to her, as most of her songs are sung while she is at the nest. Another interesting phenomenon is that mated male and female cardinals sing very similar song patterns. While many bird calls sound similar to us, each individual has a unique pattern of whistles, chirps, and pauses. However, a mated pair of cardinals shares many song phrases, which may suggest a deeper pair bond than in most songbirds.

This beautiful bird came to us because a head injury likely due to flying into a window. Most birds become very territorial in the period between egg laying and hatching. Cardinals are no exception. Often times, male songbirds will attack their own reflections in doors and windows out of protection of a nest, because they believe it is another bird. Female cardinals also engage in this aggressive behavior and it can easily lead to injury to the head or body.

If you are worried about birds injuring themselves on your windows, you can purchase window clings at a local pet shop or Wild Bird Unlimited store. They are often colored in a way that discourages birds from attacking. Another option is to place wax paper on the windows. This will prevent birds from seeing their reflection and will also limit aggressive behavior.