There is a good reason the Northern Cardinal is our North Carolina State Bird. Cardinals are here year-round. They don’t migrate like many of our other colorful birds. We get to enjoy the brilliant scarlet plumage of the male and the subtle shades of the female. Both male and female sing equally well and their song is clear and melodic.

During nesting season you may observe a pair of Cardinals mate-feeding at your feeder. In this, the male picks up a bit of food, hops over to the female, and the two momentarily touch beaks as she takes the food. If you see this behavior, there’s a good chance the two will nest in your yard. The nest is not hard to find and you will often see it in dense evergreens or vines and thickets. The nest is usually built by the female and a common sight is the pair flying across an open space, the female leading with nesting material in her beak.

This month when leaves are falling is a good time to look for nests. The Cardinal nests have four layers. The first is a platform of stiff weed stems and vine stems; the second consists of leaves or paper and grapevine bark; the third is fine weed stems and grass and trailing vines; and the fourth is fine rootlets and grass stems. Usually you can find the nests four to five feet high in the densest part of a shrub or thicket.

Adult females and juveniles are similar in appearance but the juveniles have a BLACK bill rather than a RED one. It is interesting to watch when the adults bring the juveniles to the feeder. Their preferred feeder food is the black oil sunflower seed.

IDENTIFYING BIRDS IN THE FIELD OR AT THE FEEDER

What do you look for when you are trying to identify a bird? The key to most bird identification is the beak. Is it a short stubby beak designed for opening seeds or cracking nuts or is it a thin longer beak designed for catching and eating insects? So always look at the beak. Is the tail short or long? Does the bird wag its tail up and down? Is there a crest on the head? Is there an eye ring or an eyeline? Are there wingbars? Is the bird smaller or larger than a Bluebird, a Blue Jay? What color is the breast? What color is the back? What was the bird doing when you saw it? On the ground feeding, at your feeder, eating insects, eating fruit or nuts in the tree or shrubs? If you will make a note of these points, it will help you when you go to your field guide later to identify the bird. Also, look at the map to see if the bird would be migrating through or nesting or wintering here at this particular time. The text in your field guide will give you a lot of information if you take the time to read it.

NEW FIELD GUIDES

Birders can never have enough field guides and love comparing one with another. This month we have two new ones – the KEN KAUFFMAN GUIDE and the SIBLEY guide. At the Carolina Bird Club meeting in Southport last weekend I bought the new Kauffman guide and will share it with the birders on the field trip October 4 to Camp Sea Gull. It uses photographs which have been digitized and computer friendly, making them more like a drawing. It, like the Peterson guide (still my favorite in the field), uses a pointer for distinctive marks. The Sibley guide I do not have yet but word has gotten out that it is fantastic with beautiful paintings, so can’t wait to see it.

FIELD TRIPS

The trip this month will be Wednesday, October 18 and the destination will be announced later. A favorite trip will be to Mattamuskeet Wildlife Refuge and the time will depend on how many cold fronts we have and when the Tundra Swans and Snow Geese arrive. We would like to go before Thanksgiving. If not, we will go the first week of December. They celebrate Swan Days at Mattamuskeet the first weekend in December so put that on your calendar. We usually meet at the Wildlife Landing in Oriental at 7 a.m. for carpooling on our trips but be sure to check it out first. Call Liz Lathrop at 249-2646 or e-mail harbinger@cconnect.net.

HUMMINGBIRD FEEDERS

Shall I take my feeder down now that the hummers have left? No. Keep your feeder active. Just put a little bit of sugar water in it. You don’t have to fill it anymore. I still have a hummer at mine. Last winter I had a Rufous Hummingbird feeding on and off. More and more we are getting these Rufous birds from California wintering here instead of going to Mexico or Central America. So chances are you may get another hummer this winter, especially if you have some Pineapple Sage blooming, which seems to attract the Rufous birds.

CAROLINA BIRD CLUB AND LOWER NEUSE BIRD CLUB