Roy

the Northern Cardinal

Roy is a northern cardinal who lives in Tootie’s backyard year-round.

Roy, a northern cardinal, is one of the best-known birds in the United States. You can identify him by his bright red feathers, crest, and black mask. You may be less familiar with his wife, Renee, who, although the same size and shape as Roy, is covered in tan feathers.

Roy is well-known for his songs, and as a member of the Passeriformes order, is a passerine, or songbird. He hangs around the trees and bushes in Tootie’s backyard entertaining everyone with his musical talent.

Roy’s Home

Roy was born in a nest his mother built in a honeysuckle shrub. His father had helped gather the materials to build the nest, which was made of twigs his mother had crushed in her beak. The inner layers were made of leaves, bark, grass, and pine needles.

Roy’s mom used her feet to shape the nest into a cup. Overall, the nest took them about a week to build.

Roy hatched from a grayish-white egg speckled with pale brown spots around the same time his three brothers and sisters hatched.

The entire brood, or group of birds born at the same time in the same nest, left the nest around two weeks later, and the nest was abandoned by Roy’s mom and dad at the time.

What types of nests do you see in your yard?

Roy’s Hobbies

Roy forages in shrubs and on the ground for seeds and fruit.

He likes to preen (or groom) and sing from higher branches, sometimes with his crest up to show other cardinals that he’s in a bad mood.

During the spring and summer, Roy sings from the high tree branches and the tops of the shrubs to mark his territory. He has a temper with other male cardinals during that time, and will even fight with his own reflection!

During the winter, Roy is a social bird and often hangs out with other cardinals in a group that has several names: college, conclave, deck, radiance, or Vatican.

He also hangs around with Tuffy, as well as white-throated sparrows, and dark-eyed juncos a lot.

What activities are the birds in your backyard doing?

Roy’s Diet

Roy is a ground forager, meaning he generally forages for food in low shrubs and on the ground. He eats seeds and fruit most of the time.

Because he also occasionally eats bugs, and as a fledgling – or a young bird, he ate bugs primarily, Roy is an omnivore, an animal that eats both meat and plants.

In addition to foraging for himself, in the spring and summer, Roy will forage for Renee. He knows what food to bring back to the nest when Renee sings the shopping list to him.

What other birds have you noticed foraging on the ground?

Learn more about Roy.

Activities

Crossword


1. Type of bird Roy is.
2. Color Roy is.
3. Where Roy forages for food.
4. Another bird Roy forages with.
5. Plant Roy was born in.
6. Parent who built Roy's nest.
7. Name for a group of cardinals.
8. Something Roy will fight with.
9. What Renee does to let Roy know what food to bring her.
10. Another word for a songbird.