#2925 "Winter Male Cardinal in the Forest"

#2925 "Winter Male Cardinal in the Forest" 
16x20 Oils on stretched canvas
Started at 10:30 am Saturday, February 15th, 2025

I was attracted to the brilliance of the male cardinal puffed out in the winter chill. . When the weather is particularly cold, cardinals will shiver and tense their muscles to generate heat. Downy feathers located at the base of each flight feather will fluff out, increasing the R-value of the plumage to protect against the cold. The hair-like down keeps an insulating layer of air trapped around their body.  As a last resort, they can drop their body temperatures in order to survive the coldest temperatures. 

The sunlight filtered through the tangle of buckthorn branches that offered excellent protection to the male cardinal. I struggled with the eye of this little bird. On the last day I devoted to this painting, a subtle flick of the brush put a friendly smirk on the face of the bird. It might have been an accident or on purpose, but I put my brush down and left it alone. Step away from the easel. 

The bright red plumage reminded people of the crimson robes and caps worn by the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church. A group of Northern Cardinals is even referred to as a college, conclave, or Vatican.

Cardinals get their trademark red plumage from their food. While they mainly feed on grain and seeds, cardinals also eat insects and a wide variety of fruits like wild grapes, dogwood berries, and mulberries. These fruits contain carotenoids that create the reds, oranges, yellows, and pinks found in avian feathers. Apparently, you are what you eat. 

A "bald" cardinal as pictured above is just molting. Every year, birds replace their worn-out feathers, typically substituting a few feathers at a time. Sometimes, cardinals lose all their head feathers at once, giving them a decidedly punk-inspired look in late summer after breeding. 

Female cardinals are among the more vocal female North American songbirds. They often sing while sitting on the nest to tell their male when to bring food and when to stay away. The bright red male could lead predators to the nest. 

During spring and early summer, male cardinals are extremely protective of their breeding territory against intruders and other males. They can be so obsessed with protecting their turf that they often attack their own reflection in windows, car mirrors, or other shiny surfaces. Females are also known to exhibit this aggressive behavior, and for both sexes, it can last for weeks.

The females build most of the nest by bending and weaving twigs, grasses, and bark strips into a cup shape.

The Northern Cardinal is among the most abundant songbirds in North America. Both male and female are beautiful birds that are conspicuous and a joy to see. The Northern Cardinal is the state bird for seven states, the mascot for innumerable sports teams, and the subject of considerable folklore. 

They are year-round residents wherever they live and keep their crimson plumage no matter the season, providing a welcomed splash of color during snowy eastern winters. Their song is characteristic and easy to identify. 

Surprisingly, the Northern Cardinal’s original range was mostly southern, with the species beginning its expansion northward in the early 1900s. This epanion of range is thought to result from:

• A warming climate:
• Growth of towns providing an increased edge habitat and
• Yard feeders during winter.

In 1983, the American Ornithologists’ Union, which is now the American Ornithological Society (AOS), added "northern" to the bird’s name to differentiate the species from other, more southern species also bearing the name cardinal, including the Yellow Cardinal.

The bird’s scientific name is Cardinalis cardinalis, but cardinals have had many colloquial names depending on their region, including: Common Cardinal, Cardinal Grosbeak, Red-bird, Cardinal-bird, Cardinal Redbird, Crested Redbird, Top-knot Redbird, Virginia Redbird, and Virginia Nightingale.

The oldest known wild cardinal lived to be 15 years and 9 months. They can live to be over 28 years old in captivity.

This is another Studio painting as a winter storm was howling outside...

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick