The Surprising Life of a Cardinal | Nature Documentary

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Attorney General, Northern Cardinal
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Attorney General, Xanthochromism
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Attorney General
4. 9:00 – 10:50: Attorney General

Notable quotes from "The Surprising Life of a Cardinal | Nature Documentary"

• Cardinalis known most commonly as the Northern Cardinal it is a widespread and common bird and a favorite of many despite being such a common and noticeable neighbor to us many admirers would be shocked by the.

  about Attorney General · at 0:01

• And rural areas by the way very rarely Cardinals may be yellow in appearance this is called xanthochromism and is due to a genetic mutation that prevents Cardinals from…

  about Xanthochromism · at 4:07

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

Concepts & topics

• Attorney General — Concept · 11 mentions · first at 0:03
• Northern Cardinal — Concept · 3 mentions · first at 0:03
  Cardinalis known most commonly as the Northern Cardinal it is a widespread and common bird and a favorite of many despite being such a common and noticeable neighbor to us many admirers would be shocked by the.
• Xanthochromism — Concept · 1 mention · first at 4:13

Full transcript with timestamps

0:01 cardinalis cardinalis known most commonly as the Northern Cardinal it is a widespread and common bird and a favorite of many despite being such a common and noticeable neighbor to us many admirers would be shocked by the amazing and complex lives Cardinals secretly live in the trees above our heads join us as we discuss what northern Cardinals get up to when we're not looking what do they eat how do they raise their young why are males and females different colors why is this Cardinal bald and more so let's get to it the Northern Cardinal can be found approximately here primarily in the east of the United States and Mexico as well as some other areas to which it has been introduced like Southern California and even Hawaii because they tend to do all right around humans their range is actually slowly expanding in particular to the north and west it is often found in Woodlands especially on the edges

1:02 shrub lands and wetlands they have adapted well to coexistence with humans and are easily found in the suburbs the vibrant red plumage for which the Cardinal is famous is unique to the male males also have a stark black mask on their faces the females plumage meanwhile is more of a light brown color though muted traces of red and the black mask are visible on her as well the difference in appearance is known scientifically as sexual dimorphism apart from that both sexes have a Crest to top their heads and relatively large beaks the latter trait actually being the namesake for a cousin of the Cardinal the gross beak the average Cardinal is about 9 in tall and weighs a little under 2 oz about the same weight as a tennis ball the name Cardinal was given to these Birds by European explorers who were reminded of high ranking officials in the Catholic church called Cardinals who dawned red attire

2:03 with pointed hats the northern in Northern Cardinal is sometimes emphasized in the bird's name because there are other types of cardinals like this one the desert Cardinal and this one the Vermilion Cardinal within this species there are about 18 subspecies and yes you absolutely must memorize this entire thing regarding diet the Cardinal heavily favors eating vegetable matters like the seeds of weeds grains Leaf Buds and fruits and berries its love of seeds like sunflower and safflower seeds is part of why it's so easy to attract them to your bird feeders adult Cardinals additionally eat things like insects on occasion while the young are almost exclusively fed insects Cardinals are also themselves food to other animals like cats dogs Birds of Prey and your weird cousin meanwhile animals like snakes and squirrels will often go for their eggs as you may have noticed on your Christmas cards Cardinals are not

3:07 migratory birds and instead stay to tough it out through the northern Winters in fact they generally remain within a mile of their birthplace throughout their lives during winter Cardinals rely on their feathers to survive the cold they become less picky about their diets and more social Gathering into flocks when spring arrives however they especially the males become less tolerant of each other's presence this is because it is the beginning of mating season when spring ared the Cardinal immediately sets off to find a mate the male must succeed in impressing the female and has various ways of demonstrating his quality as a mate the first is with his plumage a colorful red plumage derived from his diet is often a sign of health and veril though some re search demonstrates that the correlation between male brightness and fitness is complicated and may vary between urban and rural areas by the way very rarely

4:10 Cardinals may be yellow in appearance this is called xanthochromism and is due to a genetic mutation that prevents Cardinals from absorbing carotenoids in their diets as the ladies of many species will tell you though it comes down to more than just looks the ears of birds are fine-tuned to the calls of their species detecting things and bird songs that human ears cannot males also impress females with the quality of their voice indeed though again we cannot hear it male voices are distinct from those of females males must also drive off other males from their territory to prove their Vigor to the female they can often be seen in the spring chasing each other away their aggression can reach such extent that they attack their own Reflections and mirrors and windows for hours at a time females too are Territorial and can be observed driving each other off from claimed territory as well on average

5:13 Cardinals defend about 3 acres of territory so he's handsome talented strong but is he cut out to be a dad the male must also demonstrate his ability to provide for the female and their future Offspring he does this by providing her with food and materials for their nest the male may actually feed the female beak to beak while doing so as a way for the couple to bond which to us looks like kissing with the male having accomplished this the female is tasked with building the nests out of things like Twigs grasses and plant fibers females aim to build their nests in areas where they may be hidden like a dense brush it takes 6 days for a cardinal to complete her nest on average if the nest is approached by a predator or a human during construction she will abandon it and start over eggs typically between 2 to 5 are laid within a week of the nest's completion cardinal eggs are white and spotted with brown the female

6:17 usually will incubate them for a little under 2 weeks and then they hatch both parents Feed The Offspring leaving the nest unattended at times to gather food these are generally the most dangerous moments for The Offspring but it is at times necessary just 10 days after hatching they leave the nest taking off into the air for the first time ah flying already it seems like just last week they were still babies it was dear it was last week although they are not quite adults yet the father will continue to feed the fledglings for about 2 to 8 weeks after they have left a nest the instinct to continue to feed the children during this time is so strong in male cardinals that they have been observed not only feeding the fledglings of other species but even going so far as to feed other animals like goldfish the father also uses this time to train the juveniles for life on their own this training includes

7:20 teaching them the distinctive calls of their species Cardinals are not born knowing how to verbally communicate they must learn from the Cardinals around around them after these two weeks the fledglings are then off on their own generally joining flocks of other juveniles the fledglings resemble females in appearance but the males generally develop their distinctive coloration by the winter by the following spring they are fully matured and ready to be parents of their own as soon as the fledglings leave the nest the male and female get to work on raising a second brood she will construct a new nest in new location almost never reusing the old one their aim is to raise two Broods per year but can raise three to four depending on the circumstances Cardinals aim to mate monogamously and for life though they are not always successful they may sometimes find new partners in The Following season and will find a new

8:21 mate if their partner has died males are also not always perfectly monogamous sometimes engaging in polygamy taking more than one partner males may also be observed going behind the backs of other males to meet with their Partners one study suggested that around 1/4 of cardinals may be born to fathers who were not the selected partner of the female Jerry Springer is big in the Cardinal world if adulthood is reached Cardinals have a life expectancy of about 3 years although they can live for much longer than this especially in captiv ity the longest recorded lifespan of a cardinal was 28.5 years the Cardinal sings a number of songs about 16 to be exact and has a number of reasons to sing as mentioned it is important for the mating process not only to attract a mate but to Mark out their territory a chirping sound may be made to Signal danger or to locate family in poor lighting Cardinals may

9:24 also call to inform their mates that they have food ah and perhaps you've seen a bald Cardinal before what's happened to them things like parasites and malnutrition can cause this but generally this is an effect of natural molting in the late summer and early fall Birds Mt and begin to replace their feathers some Cardinals simply lose all their feathers at once this baldness generally only lasts about a week because Cardinals are so common and so beloved humans have paid quite a bit of attention to them prior to the early 20th century they were even occasionally kept as pets until this was made illegal today they are the namesake for multiple American sports teams and the state bird of seven US states and there we have it the life of a cardinal in a nutshell or should I say a sunflower seed shell ha ha haa haa ha I hope you enjoyed this video If so I invite you to come check out the rest of luceno and to subscribe for more

10:37 videos like this in the future thank you for watching

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "The Surprising Life of a Cardinal | Nature Documentary"?

In order: 0:00 Attorney General, Northern Cardinal; 3:00 Attorney General, Xanthochromism; 6:00 Attorney General; 9:00 Attorney General.

What is mentioned in this Fire of Learning episode?

3 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Attorney General, Northern Cardinal, Xanthochromism. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The Surprising Life of a Cardinal | Nature Documentary"?

The episode runs 11 min; the transcript is about 1,651 words in 11 timestamped sections.

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