Northern Cardinal Print - Male in Snow

A male Cardinalis cardinalis on a bare branch, snow coming down. The plate holds the image that has done more for backyard feeder culture in North America than any other: that deep scarlet body against the cold, the black mask sharply defined at the bill, the crest raised, a cold blue-grey wash of winter sky behind him.

The contrast is not decorative. The male cardinal earns it. His red is carotenoid-based, produced from compounds absorbed through his diet of seeds, berries and insects in autumn. A bird with access to native fruit grows brighter feathers. A bird on sunflower alone grows duller ones. Female cardinals choose mates partly on plumage brightness, which means the colour you see in this plate in winter is the result of last autumn’s feeding. The deep red holding through the snow is a fitness signal.

The Northern Cardinal does not migrate. The same bird that visits a January feeder in Ohio or Virginia or Illinois was there in April, breeding in the same hedgerow. The species is a year-round resident across the eastern and central United States, the state bird of seven states - more than any other species - and estimated at 130 million individuals.

In August the male moults, feathers going patchy for six to twelve weeks. By October the new crest is back. By March, when the contrast against late snow is at its most vivid, he is exactly the bird this plate shows.

Drawn in the tradition of Audubon, where red against white is reason enough for a plate.

Printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308gsm.