These beautiful birds are originally natives of the American South but are now present in most areas of Eastern Canada with the occasional rare sighting in Alberta. The hotspot for Central Alberta is Sherwood Park where there have been at least one, and perhaps as many as three, breeding pairs of Northern Cardinals. A Sherwood Park couple who are long time bird feeders had a male show up at their feeder starting in 2006. He persisted until a female arrived in 2008. Magic happened and a chick from the union was feeding from their bird feeder in 2009. Since then the frequency of sightings has increased slowly. At the store, we've had reports of Cardinal sightings by customers in Redwater, Gibbons, Fort Saskatchewan, Strathcona County, and Sherwood Park confirming that area as the one to watch for growth in the breeding population. There have been occasional sightings in the City of Edmonton and just west of Devon. If you have seen a Northern Cardinal, we'd love to hear from you. Have a look at the Edmonton Journal
YouTube video showing the establishment of a family of Cardinals in Sherwood Park.
Hi I live in Sherwood Park and a male cardinal visited my feeder yesterday and today. How beautiful!
ReplyDeleteLinda O.
Hi Linda,
ReplyDeleteI would love to see a photo if you happen to be able to get one. You can email me at wbuedmonton@gmail.com. Cardinals are pretty rare in our parts, but as I mentioned in the blog Sherwood Park has seen them over the years. We do have a number of White-winged Crossbills in the area this year. These and the Red Crossbills might visit feeders as well.
Love to hear from you,
Dave Cleary
I live in Sherwiid Park and we have just seen a red cardinal male and one female! Wow!
ReplyDeleteHi Marie-That's so cool! Thank you for letting us know you've seen them. Where do you live in Sherwood Park? Did you happen to get a picture of them? We'd love to show other people what you saw. Feel free to contact us directly at wbuedmonton@gmail.com. Thanks, Dave
ReplyDeleteMy mother just seen one a day ago. The bird has been back a few times through out the day. My mother has a bird feeder out in front. We will try and get a pic for you.
ReplyDeleteShe lives on the north east. By the coliseum area.
I saw a two Red Cardinals yesterday, I assume they are a breeding pair as one was red and the other a brownish, while I was outside helping my sister-in-law. We live west of Breton.
ReplyDeleteHi Shannon,
ReplyDeleteNice to hear from you about your sighting of Cardinals. Would you happen to have a picture you can share with us? This is exciting.
Dave
My Sister had one in her yard just off 814 and Airport road. Will have to get the right food for it so they will come back someday.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteAs Cardinals are not that common, can your sister tell us if the bird she saw had a crest on it's head? What colour was it? Cardinals enjoy black oil sunflower seeds in the shell.
Dave Cleary
We live in sherwood park and have a male living in our yard that seems to want to fight with it's reflection in one of the small windows on the side of the house. We have tried to deter this, but no luck. I can send you a photo if you would like.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone had any recent sightings?
ReplyDeleteSylvan Lake and a Male at my feeder
ReplyDeleteFrank
That is amazing! Thanks for letting us know!
DeleteI live in Milbourne in Edmonton and I swear I saw one about a week ago, I didn’t think they came this far north.
ReplyDeleteI have had the privilege of spotting 5, yes 5 Cardinals in my Mountain Ash Tree. It is approximately 9 feet from my sun room window. I don't have a cell phone for environmental reasons, and I was just amazed at what I was looking at. Two males, crested with a black mask and 3 females in a lovely soft brown with red feathers complimenting their tail and back end. They were there for a while before I noticed them, then stayed for around 5 minutes more. Then the flock flew up, I think to my roof top. I have heard many comments telling me that this couldn't be. I have a very sharp eye and was with my yard worker who recognized them as Cardinals as well. We had long enough to view them to know they could be nothing else.
ReplyDelete