Northern Cardinal
A backyard trumpet in a red suit—easy to recognize, rewarding to really notice through every season across towns and woodland edges.
Artwork inspired by Ivan Albright
The Northern Cardinal is a nonmigratory songbird of woodland edges, thickets, gardens, and neighborhoods across much of the eastern United States. Illinois made it the state bird in 1929, but its appeal goes well beyond the male’s famous red plumage: Cardinals stay close to home all year, so the same pair may become familiar regulars at a yard or park.
Males are crimson with a black mask; females are warm buff-brown with red in the wings, crest, and tail. Both sexes sing, which is unusual enough among temperate North American songbirds to be a genuinely helpful identification clue. Listen for clear, repeated whistles, then search lower in shrubs and tangles rather than only scanning treetops.
- Status
- Common year-round resident
- Diet
- Seeds, fruit, insects
- Best look
- Woodland edges & feeders
Quick guide
- Best time
- Early morning · year-round
- Spot it
- Low in shrubs or feeding on the ground
How to spot a cardinal
- Where
- Look for backyards, parks, woodlots, hedge rows, and dense shrubby edges.
- When
- Check year-round.
- Look
- Woodland edges & feeders; reliable all year.
- Listen
- Clear paired whistles—cheer-cheer-cheer or birdie-birdie-birdie—and a sharp metallic chip from cover.
Good to know
Keep cats indoors and place feeders within 3 feet of a window—or more than 30 feet away—to reduce collision risk.
Notice these
- Both males and females sing
- Does not migrate
- Thick seed-cracking bill
- Young birds have a dark bill