*Courtship & Feeding
"The cardinal is not migratory. They mate, the brightly colored red male with the more yellowish tinted female. The male tends to be more aggressive until it is time to mate. Then the male attracts the female with one of a series of calls. Cardinals will mate for life and remain together throughout the entire year. That's why you will usually see a male and female together.

The common call of the Northern Cardinal is a sharp chink or a metallic chipThe song is a loud, liquid whistling with many variations, including cue cue cue and cheer cheer cheer or purty purty purty. Both sexes will sing year round.

Cardinals prefer brushy woodlands, streamside thickets, orchards, swamps, suburban gardens and parks. They like to roost and nest in dense thickets, evergreens and privet hedges.Cardinals are known to eat over a hundred kinds of fruits and seeds in the wild. Attractive garden plants include brambles, sumac, cherry, dogwood, grape, mulberry, blueberry, elderberry, tulip tree, hackberry, and Russian olive.