COLD DAYS OF THE CARDINAL

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A royal red winter bird and the magic seven stars of Pleiades are this season's highlights

By Fred Schaaf

Through drifting snow and cutting sleet I've trudged and toiled my friends to greet; And tug'd beneath my lumb'ring gear, To wish you all a HAPPY YEAR.

— An Old Almanack,
January, 1824

Red Bird in the Snow

If you can afford to stay snug in your home on a winter day, one of the chief enjoyments you can have is looking out your window at a well-stocked and much-frequented bird feeder. And one of the best sights is seeing a dash of vivid and warm color brought to the pale landscape in the living form of that amazing American bird we call the cardinal.

No bird is more easy to recognize than the male cardinal, almost entirely red except for the conspicuous black mask on his face. The female cardinal's overall color has been called buff-brown and yellowish-olive, but what you notice most are the touches of red that it does have, on its crest, tail, and wings. Its red touches are beautifully artistic, in fact it's almost as if someone had used a paintbrush and stroked the color on here and there. The immature cardinals are also only partial in their redness.

But redness of feathers is not the only physical feature that makes cardinals attractive and likable. The crest on the head is impressive, of course. But have you ever noticed the color of these birds' beaks? The adults' beaks are pink, although I could swear that there is also some gold in the male's w (or perhaps the fe male's beak looks more pink in relation to her plumage). One way to tell immature male cardinals from females is by color of the beak—the young birds' beaks are rather colorless, sort of dusky.

Then there is the audible cardinal. Audubon himself called the cardinal a proud musician. In winter you're likely to hear just the note, not the full-fledged song, but even the note is very distinctive and beautiful. It is sometimes written as chip, but really has the quality of a small bell being rung. And if you win some cardinals over to become regular visitors to your feeder in winter, they may well stick around for the spring and treat you to further vocalizations. One song sounds something like "pretty, pretty, pretty," but more piercing and poignant is a series of sounds that descend into a "sweet slurring" and that people describe as cheer, cheer or dear, dear.