Ask About Birds

Symbolism

What the birds are saying.

Every species carries centuries of meaning. We separate the folklore from the genuine cultural traditions, one bird at a time.

How the cardinal became a Christmas bird The cardinal was not on the first Christmas card. He was not a medieval symbol. He became a Christmas bird through a 19th-century printer in Boston, a 20th-century rise in backyard bird feeding, and a poem by Victoria McGovern that gave grieving families a phrase to attach to a bird who was already at the window. Read the meaning →
Seeing two cardinals: what it means Two cardinals in the garden almost always means one thing biologically: you are looking at a mated pair. The symbolic reading layered onto that fact is usually about partnership, less often about the dead, and not nearly as ancient as the internet suggests. Read the meaning →
What the cardinal means (and who decided) The phrase 'cardinals appear when angels are near' is not in the Bible. It is not in any historical Christian text. It is not in print in English before about 1990. The meaning of the cardinal at your winter feeder is genuine, and almost none of it is ancient. Read the meaning →