The Babies Look Like Cardinals! Oops

A Young Female and a Male
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 It was pure excitement finding a cardinal's nest with the two babies but it was disappointing to find out that the chicks leave the nest within 9 to 11 days.
They left the nest looking like any other baby birds. This young cardinal must be from an earlier brood (since a cardinal pair have 3 to 4 broods a year).  It was easy to tell that this cardinal is a young one because he was not sure of himself yet!

 He finally did make it to the feeder but if a bigger bird came in he would fly into the tree and wait.

And yet another surprise: a young female showed up!

Until the young northern male cardinals reach maturity their coloring is similar to the fully grown female.  At 12 months the male usually begins molting and makes the transition to its beautiful red plumage

A key coloration difference in the babies are their beaks (black).  When the youngsters reach about 12 months old the transition to the next color phase--red!

These young birds are still around, eating from the feeders, hanging out in the trees and hopping around the patio furniture in the back yard!
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Have You Ever Found a Cardinal's Nest?

What a surprise!

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A pair of cardinals have been singing, chirping and tweeting 

for days, which has aroused our curiosity.

The female darts in and out of the tree
where the nest is neatly tucked away and very hard to find!

And here is the male watching over the whole situation!  Once the young are born the male usually takes over the feeding and care of the chicks and the female is off to build a new nest so they can have multiple broods a year.  But in this case the female and male both have been doing the feeding.

After listening and watching for hours, we make the discovery!
A cardinal's nest with two chicks. 

The discovery wasn't made early enough to see the eggs and know how long that they had been in the nest.   As they only are in the nest 9 to 11 days after hatching, the first chick had to be that old because it fledged the nest the next morning.

This cardinal's nest is in the thickest tree possible--very hard to get pictures. They live in inhabited areas like parks, woodlots, shrubby forest edges and right in your own backyard.  And the cardinals are frequent visitors of the backyard feeders!

The Northern cardinal is a long-tailed songbird with a short, very thick bill and a distinguishing crest. 

Guess you are wondering if this really is a baby cardinal!

It doesn't look much like the beautiful parents at this point, but the parents are taking care of the chicks.  The chicks are not so easy to identify as cardinals because they do not exhibit the distinctive traits of the adults.

This chick was about 3 to 4 days behind the other chick since it was still in the nest.
They are born with a pink skin and grayish scales, and once they begin to molt their feathers will be a tan color.

The chicks have unusually large beady eyes and large eye sockets like many lizards.

The baby cardinal's mouth is red on the inside, the only red you can see....

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WOW!

 Pretty Bird

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If you look up Desert Cardinal, this is what you will see.

Pyrrhuloxia

It is surprising to learn that besides our Arizona Desert Cardinal, the desert also has the Northern Cardinal, pictured below.  Both types are not snowbirds:  they do not migrate, but are year round residents!

               Their songs are beautiful and they vary depending on season and/or region.  My favorite is when the male is singing P R E T T Y-P R E T T Y!

                   
                      One look and he is in L O V E!

She is grayish-brown in color with reddish tints on her crest, wings and tail.  And you can't miss her beautiful red beak.

The male courts the female by feeding her and can identify her from a distance by her song.

They make their homes in all sorts of thickets in the desert but you can find them 

visiting the feeders in  the yard!

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