Bird of the Week — Cardinal Fledglings

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 CLXXI

This is one of two Northern Cardinal fledglings that made an appearance in our yard this past week. He’s with his dad. Although the coloring of the fledgling looks like an adult female, fledglings beaks are gray or black while the adults’ beaks are bright orange.

The Latin name for the northern cardinal is Cardinalis cardinalis.

This is the smaller fledgling. They are gray until about three months when their coloring appears. Until then I won’t know if these are males or females. If they are male they will get splotches of red. If female, they’ll get the orange highlights of the female adult.

This is Mrs., our adult female cardinal and mom of the two fledglings.

We have had a cardinal male and female in our yard for two years. I’ve named them Red and Mrs. I’ve been waiting patiently to see if they’d have a family, and I’m beyond excited to see their fledglings.

The female lays three to four eggs and incubates them by herself for 12 to 13 days. The young leave the nest in about nine to 11 days after hatching. Once they leave the nest, they are called fledglings. Both parents feed their young but often it is the father.

Here’s Red feeding his large fledgling.

Fledglings will often hide in bushes or shrubs while most often the male will feed them for a few weeks. They become fully independent after about a month. I am curious if they will stay in our yard, or will find their own home away from their parents.

UPDATE:

A day after I wrote and scheduled this post, I saw Red with a brand new fledgling or possibly fledgling number 2 who I named “Mini me”. Here are a few photos:

The way the baby moved and was so shaky standing while I got photos gave me the idea that it may be Cardinal fledgling number three. I read that eggs are laid over time and they may hatch over several days or even weeks, which is why they can be different ages and sizes.

I have gotten comments on my Next Door app and friends that fledgling number one is the adult female. The color of the beaks, black vs. orange, plus and seeing Mrs. in the backyard with fledgling number one lets me know for sure that they are separate birds

What do you think of my Cardinal Fledglings? Do I have one, two or three?

67 thoughts on “Bird of the Week — Cardinal Fledglings”

  1. I wouldn’t know how many you have, because when it comes to bird-watching, I’m a fledgling.

    They’re beautiful birds, though. I kind of think the females are prettier than the males. You got some very nice shots of them.

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  6. Wow!! I’ve never seen cardinal fledglings. What a treat!! You’ve been feeding mom and dad well. 😉

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  8. I thought of you the other day and your yard. I was in the backyard weeding or trying the best with the hip to do a few things and a cardinal flew near me and watched me. For a few minutes, I thought it winked at me and the little black pug. We have had stray cats take up residence under our back porch. I guess they feel safe and they like the garden and a water source nearby. The birds still arrive, so that is good. I just cleaned the bath for them today.

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      • That is a good question. He just ignores them. We have a black stray cat visit and I think he thinks they are part of his crew. At night, if he hears them he does want to get out and run around. If he is already out there, he just goes right by them. Same on walks.

      • My daughter’s pug had too many run ins with Olive our cat. Once he had a claw stuck in his face. Now when my daughter is walking him and he spots a cat, he’s wants to go the other way.

  12. Absolutely wonderful post. Your observations put this common backyard bird in a completely different light. I didn’t know that this is one of the species in which eggs are laid over a period. Makes sense that they might begin to hatch at different times. With that difference in colouring, it is likely that the parents have different roles in the rearing of young. The cryptic colouring perhaps means that the female broods.

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  13. That so fun to have a whole family of cardinals now! I can’t say how many fledglings unless you can see them all at one time. Mom and Pop can tell them apart, though.😉

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    • Exactly. The fledglings come out one by one with Mom or Dad. The first two are so different in size that they are easy to tell apart right now. I’ll keep my eyes out for them together some day.

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