It’s Valentine’s Day and we offer our female friends a handsome male that will say “Pretty-Pretty-Pretty” when they walk by. He’s red, the color most associated with passion, love, and joy, and he’s starting to pose for a potential spouse to whom he’ll be faithful this year.
Yes, he’s a Northern Cardinal, a bird that usually starts breeding in March, but already is fighting over a territory that he has picked. That’s where his control ends. He has to be chosen by a dusky female Cardinal to mate and they are very picky and clever birds.
Female Cardinals are one of the few female birds that will sing back to males during courtship. Research also shows that the females try to pick the reddest male Cardinal available for a mate, since vibrance is an indicator of good health and lineage. (Brooklin, Maine; Leighton Archive images shown)