At My Feeders:  Northern Cardinal

The Northern Cardinal is resident in my area (Emerson, GA) throughout the year.

As is true in most birds, the adult male is brightly colored and the adult female is relatively plain-colored.  The male is easily identified by his rich, red color and black face mask.  A heavy, wide beak is typical of all post-fledging Northern Cardinals.

The beak is our key to gauging age.  Newly-fledged cardinals have a solid black beak.

As Cardinals mature, the beak will go through a "mottled" stage before turning the solid orange color seen in both male and female adults.  The trickier part is distinguishing between a juvenile male cardinal and a juvenile female cardinal.  Since both genders of adult cardinals have a solid, red tail -- we can't use the tail as our gauge.  I look for red splotches beginning to form in areas which are typically tan-colored in adult females.  This tells me I am looking at a juvenile male vs female.

Now, just when you thought you had this ... look again.  A juvenile Northern Cardinal and a juvenile Summer Tanager look a lot alike!