This little red ball is the most beautiful bird in the flock.

Friends who have bought funds, how are you doing recently? Do you get scared when you see green and miss red?

So, let’s take a look at this little red fat ball today!

Little red bird soars into the sky | Hari Krishnan / Wikimedia Commons

This is the Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). Like dancing flames, with a short, thick beak, they are often the most beautiful birds in the flock.

The next second, he might pop up to fight the green pig | Dominic Sherony / Flickr

Angry Little Red Bird

Red is the number one label of the cardinal, and it is also the most intuitive understanding of the cardinal. Like most birds with different sexes, the beauty of the cardinal is mainly in the adult males. Except for a small black circle at the base of the beak connecting the eyes, the rest of their bodies are red. When it comes to the females and immature males, it's as if the printer ran out of ink, and they are only dyed with a brown base color mixed with a little red.

Although their fur colors are very different, their expressions are exactly the same: unhappy | Jen Goellnitz / Flickr

The bright red color of the North American cardinal (perhaps only the male) reminded early immigrants of the cardinals in their European hometowns who wore red. Their scientific name is also given as Cardinalis cardinalis, so in Chinese they are sometimes called cardinals or cardinal finch.

Cardinal and Cardinal's Finches | Pixabay; Henry T. McLin / Flickr

The lively and eye-catching cardinals can be found almost everywhere in the central and eastern United States and Mexico. In the United States, their name is known to everyone from New England to Texas. They live on the edges of vast woodlands and in the bushes, and they don't mind living with humans. The ubiquitous cardinals are like leaping flames in the forest, singing songs that never stop year after year, and have gradually become one of the symbols of spring and rural life in American culture. In the United States, cardinals generally have a place in poster illustrations about birds, and they are also used to represent feeder birds in advertisements for feeders and bird food.

Birdseed printed with cardinals and other birds | Pine caterpillars

When the Audubon Society of Ornithology introduced the cardinal, they could not hide their love for this red bird. In the relevant entry, they first introduced it as "the only bird that is both red and has a crest", and called it "one of the most popular birds". Another American bird manual, The Crossley ID Guide, is more direct, designating it as the most popular bird in North America, without a doubt - "The most popular bird in North America".

These birds have also become an element of popular culture. The cardinal also served as the "signature bird" in "Angry Birds" produced by Finland's Rovio, and their popularity has skyrocketed.

Have you ever played Angry Little Red Bird? | iTunes / Apple

Spring singer

Cardinals sing all year round, but their peak season is in spring and summer. Their winter calls consist of a lot of short, lip-smacking calls, which are not bright and melodious, but the chirping of them in groups is also very lively.

In the spring when the days get longer, changes in hormone levels regulated by the photoperiod begin to prompt cardinals to sing more frequently. Even though it may still be early spring in February or March, and the weather is not warm enough to melt the snow, these active singers have already begun their performances. In the natural documentary book A Sand County Almanac, American ecologist Aldo Leopold described the cardinals that encountered a cold snap in early spring:

"A cardinal sparrow sings of spring to a warm current, only to discover that it has been mistaken, but can correct its error and resume its winter silence... while a migrating goose gambles by flying 200 miles overnight..."

Cardinals rarely migrate long distances, so they don’t have to plan their dates as carefully as migratory birds do, and they only need local plant seeds to sustain them until next spring. And groups close to humans can take full advantage of the kindness of humans in feeders.

An albino female bird | Paul Hurtado / Flickr

Singing Forest

Unlike the short, simple and crisp calls of the usual time, the frequent singing of the cardinal in spring is more like a loud whistle and siren, with a brisk and continuous rhythm, which can be combined into a variety of melodies. However, this song is not praising the new life promised by spring, nor is it a romantic bird song, but usually a hostile demonstration - although the object of the demonstration is often not real. Leopold also wrote: "On a river birch stood a cardinal sparrow, it cried loudly, claiming an invisible territory (flooded)."

Note:

Song, or "song" in behavioral science, refers to the sound that birds make repeatedly with a special melody. This sound is usually made by male birds, and mostly during the breeding season, which is different from the monotonous and lacking call and other noises of birds.

Obviously, such invisible competition consumes a lot of energy, but such aggressive and impatient behavior is actually a routine operation for many breeding songbirds. Take the North American cardinal, for example. Not only will the male birds start singing at a high frequency in the weeks before breeding to occupy potential territories, but they will also become impulsive and irritable, singing fiercely with other guys who enter their territory, or simply attacking the intruders until they go away. These hot-tempered lords sometimes attack their own reflections in the glass.

Not only male birds, but also female cardinals can sing melodiously. Their songs are usually similar, with a typical song being a series of distinct descending or two whistles, then accelerating and ending with a slow trill, lasting about 2-3 seconds. There are some subtle differences between the songs of male and female birds, but it is difficult for human ears to distinguish. Of course, we have reason to believe that they themselves must be able to easily distinguish the diversity of songs between sexes and individuals, and the morning in the spring forest that they themselves (or a songbird of another species) hear must be ten thousand times more wonderful than what our ears hear.

After pairing up, the male and female cardinals will continue to sing, and the male will feed the female to strengthen the relationship. Many songbirds perform duets and feeding during the pairing period, which seem to be affectionate but are actually utilitarian, in order to stimulate the female's hormone secretion and urge her to enter the state of nesting and laying eggs as soon as possible. When the time is right, the male will use his powerful short beak to break off the branch, and then let the female build the nest.

“Eat my food, and you’ll lay my eggs!” | Linda Hartong / Flickr

They lay three or four eggs in a clutch, and they will have two or three clutches in a season. And while the male is feeding his offspring, the female is often already incubating the next clutch. This intensive breeding pattern depends on the tacit cooperation of the parents, and also requires a relatively fixed relationship during the breeding period of the cardinal.

A young cub, whose feathers haven't yet fully grown, begs for food from its father | FrontYardVideo / YouTube

Waiting for Spring

Their efficient reproduction pattern allows them to spread across North America, and also facilitates humans to conduct more thorough research on them.

According to data from Pennsylvania State University, the longest recorded lifespan of a wild cardinal is 15 years and 9 months, and the longest recorded lifespan of a captive cardinal is 28 years and 6 months. However, like many small songbirds, cardinals in the wild generally only live for about two to three years. The first two winters of their lives are difficult for them to overcome, and if they unfortunately encounter a strong cold wave, their mortality rate will be greatly increased.

Winter is not easy | Pxhere

When spring comes after winter, all kinds of singing will fill every crevice in the trees and shrubs of North America. Following those songs, you will easily see these red birds, as well as other songbirds of all sizes. They are all remarkable survivors of the previous winter, watchmen who have experienced the bitter cold, and prophets of the return of spring.

What they sing is the never-ending song of life.

Author: Capt.Z

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward

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