The Northern Cardinal is by far the
brightest colored resident bird in the Block Island
landscape. But the Cardinal has not always been
a resident on the Island; and it is an example of
a bird whose range has been expanding to, and become
established in, Rhode Island since the 1950s. According
to records maintained by the Audubon Society of
Rhode Island the first nesting record of Cardinals
occurred in Westerly, RI in 1957. Likewise, the
first known record on Block Island was two birds
seen on November 12, 1957. In addition, the Elizabeth
Dickens Bird Collection includes a male Cardinal
contributed by David Lewis and Ed Conley in 1966.
These days the Northern Cardinal is a common bird
on Block Island. Look for a splash of bright crimson
red (males) and a prominent crest. Follow your ears
to the source of a powerful whistle-like song and
your eyes will surely fall on a Cardinal. This bird
is often seen at feeders or perched atop a shrub
or other tall look out, but finding its nest is
a chore as it is often buried out of sight in a
dense thicket.
Beyond their beauty, Cardinals are considered beneficial
birds that consume many varieties of weed seeds,
beetles, grubs and other garden pests.
Little known now, the Cardinal was once kept as
a popular cage bird. Writing in 1927, Forbush suggests
that some of the early records of Cardinals in New
England (between 1900 and 1925) were escaped cage
birds. Forbush goes on to caution: "now the law
has forbidden such confinement of native birds."
"Cardinals
were formerly in great demand as cage birds,
and Nuttall tells us that Gemelli Careri (who
wrote in 1699) said that the Spaniards of
Havana in a time of public scarcity bought
so many that the sum expended for them at
ten dollars each reached $18,000."
-From Edward Howe Forbush’s Birds
of Massachusetts and Other New England States
(1927) |
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"The
Cardinal is one of the few birds of the United
States that possesses brilliant plumage and
unusual powers of song.It is one of those
rare singers that break into song in every
month of the year.
The Cardinal is a resident throughout the
year in the greater part of its range, and
in winter when a thick carpet of snow lies
on the ground, its plumage shines with unusual
brilliance in the reflected light from the
snow and stands out in marked contrast to
the snowy background."
- Forbush, 1927 |
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