Northern Cardinal Print - Courtship Feeding (No. 2)

The second plate of the courtship feeding sequence holds the pair from a slightly wider angle, the full composition readable at once. The male Cardinalis cardinalis in scarlet, crest raised, beak open toward the female. She takes the seed from him, her warm buff-brown plumage edged in rose at the crest and wing. Two birds, one branch, the Audubon palette doing what it does best: letting the difference between these two plumages say everything.

What the plate shows is biologically specific. The female cardinal is one of the few North American female songbirds that sings, and her relationship with the male is one of coordinated communication from courtship through breeding. While she incubates the eggs - a job she does alone - the male brings her food. While she starts the next nest, the male feeds the fledglings from the previous brood. The pair can raise two to four broods in a season, beginning as early as mid-March in southern populations.

The female’s plumage is not drab. It is warm: buff-brown shot with rosy red at the wings, tail and crest, the heavy coral bill glowing against the branch brown. She is the quieter half of the frame but she holds equal weight in the composition.

Cardinalis cardinalis is a year-round resident across the eastern and central United States. Population estimated at 130 million, expanding steadily northward for over a century.

In the tradition of Audubon, where two birds in a single frame tell a complete story.

Printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308gsm.