Father Northern Cardinal

 In honor of Father's Day,which will be celebrated tomorrow in the United States, I wanted to give you a small peek into the life of a father Northern Cardinal.

Male birds vary greatly in their participation in brooding and raising their young.  For some species (such as our ruby-throated hummingbirds) the male, once mating, is done.  The female builds the nest, incubates the eggs, and raises the young without help.

The male Northern Cardinal, though, is a devoted partner.  The male brings his mate nesting materials, which the female examines for suitability and builds the nest.  While the female sits on eggs, the male brings food.  And after the babies leave the nest, the father bird isn't done with his fatherly duties yet.

It's hard to see, but at the bottom right of center, the red is the male cardinal on one of our feeders (hidden by a paw paw leaf).  On the fence, one on the extreme left, the other sitting on a fence post on the right, are its two children.   We think we've seen a third juvenile once or twice.

Again, hard to see (sorry) if you look at the big leaf looking down from the top of the photo, you will see the father cardinal (red) preparing to feed one of its children while the other (still on the fence, left) looks on and waits its turn.

The mother is probably back at the nest preparing for, or nesting, another brood.

We watched the male make several trips to the feeder and back, as the juveniles shook (a normal behavior for them) waiting for their food.  Just think, men reading this post, of having to do this all day long.  And, the male may need to keep this up for one or two months, before the young are totally on their own.

We are so fortunate to have these birds raising young near us.