Adult male. Photo: Jan Trabue/Audubon Photography Awards
Cardinalis sinuatus
| Conservation status | Surveys indicate slight declines in population, probably as a result of habitat loss, but still widespread and common. |
|---|---|
| Family | Cardinals, Grosbeaks and Buntings |
| Habitat | Mesquites, thorn scrub, deserts. Present at all seasons in dense brush in very dry country, including mesquite groves, desert washes, lower stretches of arid canyons, dry plains with mesquite and acacia scrub, streamside brush in desert regions. In winter, also wanders into open woods, forest edges, hedgerows in farm country. |
Forages mostly while hopping on ground; also does some foraging up in shrubs and low trees. Except when nesting, often forages in small flocks.
3-4, sometimes 2-5. Pale grayish white to greenish white, spotted with brown and gray. Incubation is by female only, about 14 days. Male often feeds female on nest during incubation period. Young: Both parents bring food for the nestlings. Young leave the nest about 10 days after hatching.
Both parents bring food for the nestlings. Young leave the nest about 10 days after hatching.
Mostly insects, seeds, berries. Diet is varied. Feeds on many insects, including beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and many others, also other arthropods. Eats many seeds, including those of weeds and grasses, and also frequently eats mesquite seeds. Feeds on berries and wild fruits, including cactus fruits. Will come to feeders for sunflower seeds.
Male sings in spring to defend territory; at beginning of breeding season, both male and female may actively chase intruders of their own species. In courtship, male often feeds female. Nest: Placed 4-15' above the ground, usually in a thorny shrub or low tree, sometimes within a clump of mistletoe. Nest (built mostly or entirely by female) is an open cup made of thorny twigs, weeds, grass, strips of bark, lined with rootlets, plant fibers, fine grass.
Audubon’s scientists have used 140 million bird observations and sophisticated climate models to project how climate change will affect this bird’s range in the future.
Zoom in to see how this species’s current range will shift, expand, and contract under increased global temperatures.
Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases. The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people, too.
Enjoy some of our favorite submissions to the Plants for Birds category of the 2020 Audubon Photography Awards.
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