The Cardinal and Christmas - a photo on Flickriver

            Naples Botanical Gardens 
Southwestern Florida
USA 

Cardinal photographed from the birding tower at the reserve. He was hard at work flitting around in the bush eating berries.  

The cardinals are a symbol of faith and warmth with their bright red color in the dreary days of winter, during which time Christmas comes. Their red color is also a symbol or reminder of blood Jesus Christ shed for us on the cross.  That's why the cardinal is so often seen on Christmas cards and as decorations on trees, wreaths, and garlands as well as painted on shop windows in winter or Christmas scenes.     

The Northern Cardinal is widespread and abundant, having expanded its range over the last century or more. Current numbers probably stable.

Habitat - Woodland edges, thickets, suburban gardens, towns, desert washes. Found in a wide variety of brushy or semi-open habitats in the East, from forest clearings and swamps to city parks, almost wherever there are some dense bushes for nesting. In the Southwest, more local; occurs in tall brush, streamside thickets, groves of mesquites in desert.

One of our most popular birds, the Cardinal is the official state bird of no fewer than seven eastern states. Abundant in the Southeast, it has been extending its range northward for decades, and it now brightens winter days with its color and its whistled song as far north as southeastern Canada. Feeders stocked with sunflower seeds may have aided its northward spread. West of the Great Plains, the Cardinal is mostly absent, but it is locally common in the desert Southwest. 

Forages mostly while hopping on ground or in low bushes, sometimes higher in trees. Readily comes to bird feeders, where it favors sunflower seeds.

Mostly seeds, insects, berries. Diet is quite varied. Feeds on many insects, including beetles, true bugs, grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants, flies, and many others, also spiders, centipedes, and snails. Most of diet is vegetable matter, including seeds of weeds and grasses, waste grain, leaf buds, flowers, and many berries and wild fruits. Young are fed mostly insects.

Taken in: United States / Florida / Royal Harbor (show map)

Taken on: December 11, 2019

Tags:

Naples Botanical Gardens

Southwest Florida

Northern Cardinal

Cardinalis cardinalis

Widespread

Abundant

Stable Numbers

Family Cardinals

Grosbeaks

Buntings

Woodland edges

Thickets

Suburban Gardens

Towns

Desert Washes

Forages While Hopping

Ground

Low Bushes

Eats Seeds

Insects

Berries

Beetles

Grasshoppers

Caterpillars

Ants

Flies

Vegetable Matter

Sue Roehl

Panasonic

Lumix DMC GH4

100 - 400 mm Lens

Handheld

coth5

Sunrays+5

NGC « less

Sets appears in: • Naples Botanical Gardens 60 acre Wildlife Reserve

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