Northern Cardinals are a perfect combination of conspicuousness and style. Adult males are a brilliant shade of red you can’t miss and the adult females are a warm brown with subtle red accents.Baby Cardinals are another thing altogether. The old wives tale "ugly in the cradle, beauty at the table" comes to mind. The fledgling in the photo seems to have made it out of the bug-eyed, “ugly” stage, is moving through the gangly stage and on a sure path to “beauty”.
Young Northern Cardinals have ashy brown feathers and black bills rather than the orange-red of the adults. They change gradually to their adult coloration three to four months after hatching.
This photo of a fledgling Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) approximately one week after leaving the nest is by Ken Thomas.
He also took the photo to the right of a male cardinal offering food to a female. This ritual is a common part of the Cardinal's mating behavior, and allows the male to demonstrate his ability to provide food for their young.
Young Northern Cardinals have ashy brown feathers and black bills rather than the orange-red of the adults. They change gradually to their adult coloration three to four months after hatching.
This photo of a fledgling Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) approximately one week after leaving the nest is by Ken Thomas.
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- Baby birds at the feeders http://goo.gl/UGCokz
- What can I feed the cardinals to make them redder? http://bit.ly/rAArXwThank you for sharing your photo! If anyone else would like to share a photograph of nature send it to bloubird@gmail.com and I'll put it on the Friday Photo posts.
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