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McCormicklynda@Netscape.net (Lynda McCormick) sent this comment:

Northern Cardinal

We've had at least 1 pair of Cardinals on our property for the past 10+ years or so. Which makes me believe that it's a particular family's territory. In fact this past spring they actually nested in the Umbrella Tree directly under my bedroom window. I think their favorite place previously is the dense Cedar hedge next to my driveway. I've 'buried' 2 feeders in the part of the Cedar hedge which is about 2 feet away from my kitchen window. This way I can spot the cardinals every time they drop by to feed. They either come together or alone, but when alone they eat and then wait around for the other to show up before flying off together.

It's quite something to watch, because when one of them comes alone and has to wait around for the other the greeting when they spot each other is quite something to see. They dance around chirping wildly and I never can tell if it's for joy or out of anger for being kept waiting.

Anyhow, they're out there every morning at the break of dawn. Then they come back between 9:00-10:00 am for a snack. Around 1:00 pm they're back again, and are always the last birds to eat at sunset.

They don't like to show up when the other birds are around much, but I've seen them show up occasionally with the blue jays or chickadees. They really don't like the sparrows at all and I've actually seen both the male Cardinal and female "Hissss" and "Spit" like a cat when a sparrow gets too close to them. I've been watching them daily and they rarely if ever miss a day in my Cedar Hedge. They "Courtship" fed outside my kitchen window and brought their babies to feed at my feeder. I don't think they had a male fledgling this year as I watched Daddy feeding 2 crying young females at one point this past summer. However, there was 1 very young male hanging around most of the summer who had the habit of coming to greet me when I went outside to fill the feeders, he sang to me in the spring and 'clicked' to me all summer. Sometimes he danced in the branches above my head and even came to sing to me when I'd pull into the driveway with the car.