Cardinal Food and Lodging

As adults, cardinals mainly eat seeds, fruits, and nuts. But a cardinal’s favorite food is sunflower seeds. The bird’s short, strong beak is perfect for cracking the seeds open. The cardinal bites hard on the shell until it cracks apart. Then the bird eats the soft kernel inside.

In winter, cardinals often visit bird feeders filled with seeds. They also visit barnyards, where they may find corn to eat.

In summer, cardinals also eat insects and worms. They eat cotton worms and potato beetles, which may otherwise harm a farmer’s crops. They also eat codling moths, which can destroy apple crops.

How Do Cardinal Chicks Get Food?

After cardinal chicks hatch, both parents feed them. The parents give their chicks insects, such as caterpillars, beetles, cicadas, and grasshoppers.

Cardinal chicks need to be fed often. The parents bring food about four times an hour. This helps the chicks grow quickly.

By the time they are 10 days old, the cardinal chicks are ready to fly from the nest. But this requires practice! At first, the chicks are able to fly only about 15 feet (4.6 meters) at a time.

Even after young cardinals leave the nest, the father continues to feed them for a while. He also shows them how to find food on their own. Meanwhile, the mother builds a new nest to get ready for another brood, or group of young.

By September, a pair of cardinals may raise up to four broods.

How Does a Cardinal Build a Nest?

In the spring, male and female cardinals pair off to mate. The female then begins to build a nest. She chooses a safe spot in a bush or on a low tree branch. Usually the nest is about 4 to 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 meters) above the ground.

The female cardinal builds her nest with dead leaves, grass, and twigs. She weaves the material together, shaping the nest like a bowl. She lines the nest with grass or roots. Usually, she finishes the job in three to nine days.

When Does a Cardinal Lay Her Eggs?

A few days after building a nest, a cardinal lays her eggs. She usually produces three to five eggs at a time. The eggs are grayish-white with brown spots and many speckles. The female sits on the eggs to keep them warm.

While the female tends the eggs, the male goes off to find food. When he finds food, the male may sing to his mate to get her attention. She then meets him away from the nest, where he feeds her. He may even bring the food right to the nest.

Cardinal eggs hatch in 12 or 13 days. At birth, all the chicks—even the males—look like their mother. Their dull brown color helps them blend in with the nest. It keeps them safe from snakes and other enemies that look for chicks to eat. When a male chick molts for the first time, it grows bright red feathers—like its father.

Do Cardinals Have Any Enemies?

Like other songbirds, cardinals have many enemies. Cats, hawks, and owls hunt adult cardinals. Blue jays, wrens, and snakes try to get at cardinal eggs or chicks in the nest.

One of a cardinal’s sneakiest enemies is the brown-headed cowbird. It waits for a time when the cardinals leave their nests. It steals an egg from the nest. The next day, the cowbird lays its own egg in the nest. The female cardinal sits on the egg until it hatches. Then she raises the baby cowbird as her own.

Cardinals have tiny enemies, too. They include fleas, lice, mites, and ticks. These pests suck blood from the birds. This can cause the birds to die. But a cardinal knows how to fight back. It picks up several ants with its beak. It rubs its feathers with the angry ants, which squirt acid. Scientists think that the acid makes some of these pests go away.

The cardinal is Cardinalis cardinalis of the subfamily Cardinalinae in the family Emberizidae.