Northern Cardinal Snow Scene

by Nava Thompson

Title

Northern Cardinal Snow Scene

Artist

Nava Thompson

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

1st place win in 'C' contest 1/13/16) A photo taken by Nava Thompson of a female Cardinal in the snow...........
The diet of the northern cardinal consists mainly (up to 90%) of weed seeds, grains, and fruits. It is a ground feeder and finds food while hopping on the ground through trees or shrubbery. It eats beetles, cicadas, grasshoppers, snails, wild fruit and berries, corn (maize) and oats, sunflower seeds, the blossoms and bark of elm trees, and drinks maple sap from holes made by sapsuckers, an example of commensalism............ During the summer months, it shows preference for seeds that are easily husked, but is less selective during winter, when food is scarce. Northern cardinals will also consume insects and feed their young almost exclusively on insects.............Pairs mate for life, and stay together year-round. Mated pairs sometimes sing together before nesting. During courtship they may also participate in a bonding behavior where the male collects food and brings it to the female, feeding her beak-to-beak............ If the mating is successful, this mate-feeding may continue throughout the period of incubation..........Males sometimes bring nest material to the female, who does most of the building. She crushes twigs with her beak until they are pliable, then turns in the nest to bend the twigs around her body and push them into a cup shape with her feet. The cup has four layers: coarse twigs (and sometimes bits of trash) covered in a leafy mat, then lined with grapevine bark and finally grasses, stems, rootlets, and pine needles. The nest typically takes three to nine days to build; the finished product is 5.1�7.6 cm (2.0�3.0 in) tall, 10.1 cm (4.0 in) across, with an inner diameter of about 7.6 cm (3.0 in). Cardinals do not usually use their nests more than once. The female builds a cup nest in a well-concealed spot in dense shrub or a low tree 1�3 m (3.3�9.8 ft) off the ground. The nest is made of thin twigs, bark strips, and grasses, lined with grasses or other plant ---- Eggs are laid one to six days following the completion of the nest. The eggs are white, with a tint of green, blue or brown, and are marked with lavender, gray, or brown blotches which are thicker around the larger end............ The shell is smooth and slightly glossy........

Uploaded

December 5th, 2014

Statistics

Viewed 2,522 Times  -  Last Visitor from Fairfield, CT on 04/18/2024 at 12:00 AM

Colors

Embed

Share

Sales Sheet

Tags