Family Cardinals (Cardinalidae)
Least Concern
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
Taxonomy
French: Cardinal rouge German: Rotkardinal Spanish: Cardenal norteño
Taxonomy:
Loxia Cardinalis
Linnaeus
, 1758,South Carolina, USA
.
Subspecies and Distribution
C. c. superbus
Ridgway, 1885 – SW USA (extreme SE California E through Arizona to SW New Mexico) S to NW Mexico (N Sonora).
C. c. townsendi
(van Rossem, 1932) – Tiburón I and adjacent coastal Sonora, in W Mexico.
C. c. affinis
Nelson, 1899 – WC Mexico (SE Sonora, SW Chihuahua, Sinaloa and W Durango).
C. c. sinaloensis
Nelson, 1899 – W Mexico (C & S Sinaloa S to Michoacán).
C. c. mariae
Nelson, 1898 – Tres Marías Is (María Madre, María Magdalena and María Cleofas), off Nayarit, in W Mexico.
C. c. seftoni
(Huey, 1940) – C Baja California (between c. 28° N and 27° N), in NW Mexico.
C. c. igneus
S. F. Baird, 1860 – Baja California S of c. 27° N.
C. c. clintoni
(Banks, 1963) – Cerralvo I, off SE Baja California.
C. c. cardinalis
(Linnaeus, 1758) – Northern Cardinal – most of E half of USA and SE Canada from SE South Dakota S to E Oklahoma and C Louisiana, E to Atlantic coast (except SE Georgia and peninsular Florida).
C. c. floridanus
Ridgway, 1896 – SE Georgia and peninsular Florida (SE USA).
C. c. magnirostris
Bangs, 1903 – S USA from S Texas and C Oklahoma E to S Arkansas, Louisiana and SW Mississippi.
C. c. canicaudus
Chapman, 1891 – W Oklahoma and C & W Texas S to C & E Mexico (from Coahuila S to E Jalisco, Guanajuato, C San Luis Potosí and Hidalgo).
C. c. coccineus
Ridgway, 1873 – Atlantic slope of E Mexico in E San Luis Potosí, Veracruz (except extreme S), NE Puebla and N Oaxaca.
C. c. littoralis
Nelson, 1897 – lowlands of S Veracruz and Tabasco (SE Mexico).
C. c. yucatanicus
Ridgway, 1887 – base of Yucatán Peninsula, in SE Mexico.
C. c. phillipsi
Parkes, 1997 – coastal scrub of Yucatán.
C. c. flammiger
J. L. Peters, 1913 – SE Mexico (C & S Quintana Roo), N Belize and N Guatemala (Petén).
C. c. saturatus
Ridgway, 1885 – Cozumel I (off NE Quintana Roo).
C. c. carneus
(Lesson, 1842) – Long-crested Cardinal – W coast of Mexico from Colima S to Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
Introduced to Bermuda (probably nominate) and Hawaii (canicaudus); also Los Angeles, on coast of S California (probably superbus or canicaudus).
Descriptive notes
Male 22–23·5 cm, 37–52 g; female 21–21·6 cm, 36–51·5 g (nominate). Male nominate race has crown, elongated crest feathers, side... read more
Voice
Vocalizations intensively studied. Both sexes sing, with broadly similar song types. Song typically... read more
Habitat
Semi-open areas with bushes, shrubs and small trees, forest edge, abandoned farmland with bushy... read more
Food and feeding
Mostly vegetable matter (c. 70% over year), but young fed almost exclusively (95%) with animal matter. One analysis of stomach contents... read more
Breeding
Virtually all studies have been conducted on North American populations. Start of nest-building varies according to location, from Feb in S... read more
Movements
Generally sedentary. Occasional long-distance movements of irregular nature. Of 11,340 recoveries... read more
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened. Abundant over much of range in E & C North America; listed as Species of Special Concern in SE California. Population densities in ideal habitat... read more
Has in the past been placed in a separate genus, Richmondena. Relationship of this species and C. phoeniceus to C. sinuatus the subject of varying opinions. One documented example of a wild-bred hybrid between present species and C. sinuatus, and hybridization in captivity reported. In captivity has hybridized also with Paroaria coronata and Gubernatrix cristata, both of which are currently placed in family Thraupidae. Races fall into two groups based largely on colour of face mask of females, namely “cardinalis group” (comprising 18 races) and single-taxon “carneus group”, although a phylogeographic study identified six lineages within the species#R. In E Mexico, race coccineus intergrades with canicaudus in N coastal Veracruz and yucatanicus intergrades with phillipsi in S Yucatán Peninsula. Race carneus sometimes treated as a full species; conversely, sinaloensis treated by many authors as synonym of affinis, and floridanus sometimes subsumed into nominate. S USA populations in C Oklahoma, S Arkansas, SC Texas, all of Louisiana and SW Mississippi included in magnirostris, but some may belong with another race or represent as yet undescribed race(s). Nineteen subspecies recognized.