The cardinals in various parts of the country sound somewhat different – at least to other cardinals.Īs the songs of both male and female cardinals are getting stronger, cardinals’ colors are getting brighter, just in time for the breeding season. As cardinals learn their songs, they pick up the local dialect. Cardinals sing an average of 9 songs, eventually running through them all. In the case of cardinals, the left side makes the low notes and the right side makes the high notes. Like many other songbirds, cardinals have a double voice box. Both sexes get red pigments from their food, especially the berries and insects they eat in August-September when they replace their feathers. The females are tan and brown but with enough red to catch your eye. Not only are they bright red, but they also perch in conspicuous places to sing. We usually think of male birds as the singers, showing off their songs to claim territory or attract a mate, and female birds as relatively silent, but both male and female cardinals sing. As the birds’ bodies respond to the lengthening days by producing hormones for the upcoming breeding season, the song centers in their brain enlarge and develop. Listen for the cardinals’ “wa-cheer, wa-cheer, wa-cheer” or “whoit, whoit, whoit.” These distinctive parts of their song become clearer and louder as the season progresses. Last year’s young are learning and practicing theirs as they hear and imitate the adult cardinals around them. Since mid-January, adult cardinals have begun trying out their songs. You might hear a northern cardinal ( Cardinalis cardinalis) when you’re out shoveling snow or refilling a bird feeder. Days are getting longer, and birds are beginning to sing, including everyone’s favorite, the cardinal. We’re surrounded by mountains of snow in this old-fashioned winter, but in Westborough we can tell that spring is on the way.

Cardinal land trust