Brooklyn Bird Watch: April 7
Photo by Heather Wolf
The Northern Cardinal, a mid-sized songbird with the male being a vibrant red, is the official state bird of many Eastern states, including Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia. (In Illinois, schoolchildren were polled and selected the Northern Cardinal as state bird back in 1929.) Photos of the bright red male are probably responsible more than any other bird for getting people to open the field guides. Northern Cardinal differ from cardinal cousins generally in feeding habits: they tend to stay low in shrubs and forage on or near the ground, often in pairs. Scientific name: Cardinalis cardinalis.
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Just read the great stuff here about cardinals.
When I was in college in North Carolina, there was a bunch of bluejays in the lot next to my house. Well, a newborn jay fell out of one of the nests and the adult jays went into protect mode, swooping down on anyone nearby.
Went to a place selling birdseed and bought some designed to bring in cardinals–loaded with sunflower seeds. That did the trick. Cardinals came in and chased the jays away.
While cardinals tend to be territorial, two pairs came in because of the abundance of sunflower seeds.