Earlier this year a pair of cardinals courted here in the holler. On April 18th, I managed to get a photo of them in a courtship feeding display:
A male Northern cardinal feeds his mate a seed, April 18, 2022 [Photo: Cathie Bird]
Around the 15th of July, I saw my first juvenile cardinal, one that I thought was possibly a female. On July 18th, I saw another juvenile that had more red feathers in its plumage. They showed up together on one of their visits so I was able to verify there were at least two different young ones stopping by.
The dad often came with them, either foraging with them or singing from a tree branch nearby. The first week of August, I started seeing the mom more often when she came to forage. The photos below are the best of many I got of all the family members that week:
Northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) adult female, August 3, 2022 [Photo: Cathie Bird]
Northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) adult male, August 4, 2022 [Photo: Cathie Bird]
Northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) juvenile, possibly a female, August 3, 2022 [Photo: Cathie Bird]
Northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) juvenile, possibly a male, August 2, 2022 [Photo: Cathie Bird]
All of them still come around, but more commonly I'm seeing each of them by themselves. I try to get photos when I can to track any changes in the juvenile plumages. The dark bills characteristic of the young cardinals, for example, are showing a little more orange now.
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