BABY BOY CARDINAL

This closer view of the second male cardinal answers my question: Why are there now two males when there had only been one all summer. This little guy is actually a young chick whose feathers are just beginning to grow in red from a dull mouse-grey. Also, he hasn’t quite developed the cardinal crest on top of his head, and his beak is still a dark, blackish color rather than the bright orange beak of an adult.

Cardinals typically have two broods a year – the first around March and the second sometime between May to July. That explains why this little one seems too young to have been born in the springtime. They usually lay three eggs, and the eggs hatch after 11 to 13 days of incubation. The chicks begin leaving the nest about 9 or 10 days after hatching, but the parents continue to feed them in the nest for as long as 4 to 8 weeks. After they’re driven out of the parents’ nest, the young birds join flocks of other juveniles. (I’ve posted a picture of sonny and his proud papa on Flickr so you can compare their different characteristics.)