Indiana State Mammal: Northern Cardinal

Nature, State Animals 2 Minutes

Basic Description

The male Northern Cardinal is perhaps responsible for getting more people to open up a field guide than any other bird. They’re a perfect combination of familiarity, conspicuousness, and style: a shade of red you can’t take your eyes off. Even the brown females sport a sharp crest and warm red accents. Cardinals don’t migrate and they don’t molt into a dull plumage, so they’re still breathtaking in winter’s snowy backyards. In summer, their sweet whistles are one of the first sounds of the morning.

Find This Bird

The brilliant red of a male Northern Cardinal calls attention to itself when males are around. You can also find cardinals by getting a sense of the warm, red-tinged brown of females – a pattern you can learn to identify in flight. Away from backyards, cardinals are still common but inconspicuous owing to their affinity for dense tangles. Listen for their piercing chip notes to find where they are hiding.

Backyard Tips

Nearly any bird feeder you put out ought to attract Northern Cardinals (as long as you live within their range), but they particularly seem to use sunflower seeds. Leave undergrowth in your backyard or around the edges, and you may have cardinals nesting on your property.

Cool Facts

Only a few female North American songbirds sing, but the female Northern Cardinal does, and often while sitting on the nest. This may give the male information about when to bring food to the nest. A mated pair shares song phrases, but the female may sing a longer and slightly more complex song than the male.

Many people are perplexed each spring by the sight of a cardinal attacking its reflection in a window, car mirror, or shiny bumper. Both males and females do this, and most often in spring and early summer when they are obsessed with defending their territory against any intruders. Birds may spend hours fighting these intruders without giving up. A few weeks later, as levels of aggressive hormones subside, these attacks should end (though one female kept up this behavior every day or so for six months without stopping).

The male cardinal fiercely defends its breeding territory from other males. When a male sees its reflection in glass surfaces, it frequently will spend hours fighting the imaginary intruder.

A perennial favorite among people, the Northern Cardinal is the state bird of seven states.

The oldest recorded Northern Cardinal was a female, and was 15 years, 9 months old when she was found in Pennsylvania.

SOURCE: ALLABOUTBIRDS.ORG

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138 thoughts on “Indiana State Mammal: Northern Cardinal”

  3. Just The News: “While Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle frustrated lawmakers Monday with sparse details about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the FBI has disclosed to Congress that the shooter used three encrypted communications apps ostensibly tied to Germany, Brussels and New Zealand and also possessed an arrest photo of an earlier Michigan school shooter, Just the News has confirmed.

    In multiple briefings, FBI leaders told lawmakers that the 20-year-old would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks’ primary cell phone has become an important focal point of the probe, including some 14,000 images that were found on it, according to multiple sources familiar with the briefings. The FBI has not issued an update on their findings to the public since July 14.

    That phone included an arrest photo and other information related to Ethan Crumbley, who was convicted in the deadly 2021 shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan, as well as information about Crumbley’s parents, the sources said, speaking only on condition of anonymity.

    The phone also included stock images of firearms and guns, articles regarding U.S. government figures as well as a screenshot of online live coverage of July 13 rally saved at 6:01pm, about 10 minutes before Crooks began shooting from a rooftop near the Butler, Pa., venue where Trump was speaking.

    One of the most tantalizing pieces of evidence from the phone, according to the sources, was three foreign encrypted platforms used by Crooks that were apparently based in Germany, New Zealand, and Belgium. The encryption on the apps “poses a significant challenge,” according to one source.

    The FBI’s closed-door briefings also provided a far more detailed timeline about the events leading up to the shooting than Cheatle offered the House Oversight Committee, including that the Secret Service first conducted a site survey at the Butler event venue on July 8 that included the AGR industrial building that Crooks eventually used as a shooter’s nest, the sources said,

    That survey was five days before the event, and resulted in a security plan that relied on three concentric rings of security around the podium, according to the sources.

    Crooks visited the Butler Farms venue twice before the shooting, once on July 7 and again at 10:30 a.m. the morning of the shooting. He returned him to retrieve a gun and then bought some ammunition before returning to the venue, the sources said,

    The FBI also told lawmakers that the Secret Service was first notified at 5:51 p.m. ET on July 13 by the Pennsylvania State Police about a “suspicious person” at the speaking venue, and that information was relayed just a minute later to the Secret Service counter sniper team and response agents on the ground.

    That means the Service had at least 9 minutes warning before Trump began speaking and 20 minutes before Crooks began shooting, the sources told Just The News.

    One minute before the first shots were fired, the Secret Service sniper was alerted that there was a local police incident at the 3 p.m. position to where Trump was speaking. One of Trump’s detail agents began inquiring what was going on just before the first shot was fired, the sources said.

    The FBI said evidence that its agents recovered from Crooks’ body or nearby after a counter-sniper killed him included the AR-15 rifle he used, a remote transmitter, a receipt from Home Depot, and his primary cell phone. The bureau told lawmakers that evidence seized from his vehicle in the parking lot at the Butler venue included:

    • Two explosive devices that were to function remotely,
    • A Drone
    • A tactical vest with plates in the front and back
    • Four magazines full of same ammo used in attack

    Evidence seized from his residence included:

    • 14 additional weapons
    • One explosive device
    • A secondary cell phone
    • A Laptop and hard drive
    • 3 USB devices

    Agents said the most startling finding thus far has been the complete absence of evidence revealing any political or ideological motive for Crooks’ shooting, the sources said, recounting what the FBI told Congress.

    On his laptop, Crooks visited websites about building explosive devices and left a message in an online gaming platform with his profile picture that read: “July 13 will be my premiere.”

    Liked by 1 person

  4. National Pulse: “Based Mace Tells Secret Service Director: ‘You’re Full of Shit!’

    “Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) blasted United States Secret Service (USSS) Director Kimberly Cheatle during Monday’s House Oversight Committee hearing over the agency’s failures resulting in the attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump on July 13, 2024. The South Carolina Republican opened her questioning by asking Cheatle if she would like her to use the five minutes of questioning to draft the USSS director’s resignation letter.

    In a rapid-fire series of ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ questions, Mace hammered Cheatle, pressing her on whether the attempted assassination was a colossal failure. Cheatle attempted to demurely respond that “it was a failure.” However, Mace pushed back, insisting she answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No,’ with the USSS director finally relenting, “Yes.”

    The heated exchange between Mace and Cheatle came to a head after the USSS director continued to give vague non-answers in an attempt to dodge the Congresswoman’s ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ enquiries. “You’re full of shit today,” Mace bluntly told Cheatle after her patience with the USS director wore thin. The South Carolina Republican continued: “You’re just being completely dishonest.”

    Additionally, Cheatle acknowledged that no one has been fired over the security lapse that nearly resulted in Trump‘s assassination.

    Throughout the hearing, Cheatle refused to give direct or detailed responses to any of the questions by Members of Congress. The USSS director often hid behind the ongoing FBI investigation into the shooting—which resulted in the death of rallygoer and Trump supporter Corey Comperatore.”

     Video: https://thenationalpulse.com/2024/07/22/based-mace-tells-secret-service-director-youre-full-of-shit/

    Liked by 1 person

  5. National Pulse: “Rep. Luna Convinced Trump Shooter Did Not Work Alone After Oversight Briefing.

    Representative Anna Paulina Luna is convinced that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the gunman who attempted to assassinate President Donald J. Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, did not act alone. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, Rep. Luna stated: “After leaving oversight briefing this am I am convinced now more than ever that Crooks was not working alone.”

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has gained access to Crook’s phone, recovered at the scene of the shooting. Still, they are having difficulties accessing encrypted foreign platforms used by him. Authorities found a second phone at Crooks’ home, along with firearms and explosive devices.

    Whistleblowers have previously testified that the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) was understaffed during the Trump rally in Butler, PA, where the attempted assassination took place. Additionally, whistleblowers say that most of Trump’s security detail was not comprised of USSS agents but relatively inexperienced Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents.

    USSS  Director Kimberly Cheatle has claimed that agents were not positioned on the building Crooks scaled to fire on Trump due to its “sloped roof,” creating safety concerns. However, local law enforcement present at the rally countered the USSS director, noting that they had informed the chain of command of Crooks and his suspicious activity nearly half an hour before the shooting took place.”

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Well, the rain chances have all disappeared – POOF!!! Up to 85 without any breeze and mostly sunny/partly cloudy. Back up into the 90’s on Wednesday, when I’m going to see Mom and do my monthly shopping.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Patience

    July 22, 2024 5:03 pm

    Donald J. Trump
    @realDonaldTrump

    Somebody please explain to Rep. James Clyburn,
    not the brightest bulb in the House,

    that I am beating the Biden/Harris Prosecutors,

    like Deranged Jack Smith, whose case against me in Florida, “the biggest of them all”
    according to the Radical Left Lunatics,

    was just “thrown out” as being Unconstitutional.

    Now it is my time
    to sue them
    for illegally breaking into, and raiding, Mar-a-Lago.

    All of these Biden/Harris cases against me are a Weaponization of Justice against their Political Opponent, Me

    — Strictly Third World Country.

    MAGA2024!

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Pensacola News Journal reported:

    Following a lawsuit by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Pensacola store Hank’s Fine Furniture (Hank’s Furniture Inc.) settled for a six-figure sum payout to a former manager fired for refusing a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination.

    Federal court records indicate a settlement had been reached Monday, and federal Judge M. Casey Rodgers ordered Thursday that the store pay former manager known as “K.M.O.” $110,000 after she denied a companywide COVID vaccine mandate based on religious beliefs.

    Rodgers also wrote that HFI cannot require proof that an employee’s or applicant’s religious objection to an employer requirement be an official tenet or endorsed teaching of said religious belief.

    The furniture store must also, within 30 days, adopt, implement and disseminate a written policy to all employees that HFI “will not require any employee to violate sincerely held religious beliefs, including those pertaining to vaccinations, as a condition of his/her employment.”

    Liked by 1 person

  15. i dunno…this sounds excessive to me….

    Martin

    July 22, 2024 5:26 pm

    JULY 22 2024

    The White House physician just provided an update on Joe’s sniffles,

    revealing they administered a staggering 10 (!!!) doses of Paxlovid.

    Looks like they’re really trying to get rid of him for good.

    🚨BREAKING — The White House physician just provided an update on Joe’s sniffles, revealing they administered a staggering 10 (!!!) doses of Paxlovid. Looks like they’re really trying to get rid of him for good. pic.twitter.com/0A2GIroRxN

    — Dr. Simon Goddek (@goddeketal) July 22, 2024

    Liked by 1 person

  16. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

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