Northern Cardinal, female
Cardinalis cardinalis
Northern Cardinal · Prospect Park · 14 December 2025
A female Northern Cardinal just lifting off a snow-dusted twig in Prospect Park in December, wings mid-beat. Cardinals are birds of thicket and woodland edge across the eastern United States, resident all year, and a Brooklyn park in snow has them in every bush.
Warm buff rather than the male's solid red, though the crest, the black face mask and the heavy orange bill carry over to both sexes. She sings, which is unusual: female cardinals sing from the nest, often answering the male's song with a phrase of their own, and the pair duet in a way few North American songbirds do.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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