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You spotted a bird in your yard and wonder Is that a female cardinal? What DOES a female cardinal look like anyway? Stick with me and you’ll learn about the female cardinal colors that are uniquely her own. No other bird looks like her and she looks completely different than her male counterpart – you know, that red guy 😉.
I wondered why the female cardinal colors were so different than the male cardinal while other wild bird species’ genders are not. Sure, the males and females of other species are a bit different but not to the degree that cardinals are.
So I dug into the research to uncover the specific colors of the female cardinal, how she compares to the male cardinal as well as the juvenile cardinal. Gary Ritchison is my favorite expert on cardinals. He wrote a bookWild Bird Guides: Northern Cardinal that I love to get lost in while discovering new things about my favorite species – the cardinal. I hope you enjoy learning what Gary has taught me.
What does the female cardinal look like?
The female cardinal is primarily buff-brown in color, has a dark red crown, wings, and tail. Her eyes are dark brown, her face mask and throat are charcoal, the beak is orange and her legs & feet are a dark flesh color.
In the wild bird world, species in which males and females differ in coloration is referred to as “dichromatic”. Cardinals are dichromatic.
The male and female cardinals are the same size (7.5 – 8.5” long) and weight (1.4 – 1.8 oz). Both genders have orange beaks, dark brown eyes, and dark flesh-colored legs and feet. That’s where their similarities end.
The biggest coloration difference between the male and the female cardinal is the body color. The female cardinal is primarily buff-brown and the male cardinal is primarily bright red.
Additional color variations between the female and male cardinal are evident in the crown, face mask, throat, wings, and tail as shown in the illustrations below.
OK, enough about the male cardinal. This article is dedicated to the female 😉
The Female Cardinal vs Other Female Cardinals
There are also subtle color variations between female cardinals. Some have more red feathers especially on the breast, face, and sides. Scientists don’t know why this is the case but speculate it may be related to their diet.
Female cardinals with more red feathers may consume more carotenoid-rich foods such as wild grapes, dogwood fruits, blackberries, and raspberries.
The female cardinal’s Look when puffed up
Have you ever seen a female cardinal all puffed up? She looks 4x her regular size all rolly polly and fluffy. There’s a reason for this.
During the winter cardinals will fluff their feathers creating pockets of trapped body heat. It’s a matter of survival. The more they fluff, the warmer they are.
The female cardinal’s Look when Molting (Missing feathers)
The first time I saw a female cardinal molting I thought it was sick. I mean REALLY sick. Feathers were missing on her head and sometimes feathers were missing all over. I thought to myself “that ain’t right!”. 😱
The fact is, the female cardinal was going through a natural phase called molting. In fact, all wild birds go through a molting phase each year at the end of the breeding season.
During molting the bird loses its old feathers and they’re replaced with new ones. When we see the female cardinal looking like she belongs in a horror flick, she’s just lost the old feathers but hasn’t yet grown back the new feathers.
Mother nature isn’t all bad though. She only allows the bird to lose sections of feathers at a time and grow them back before losing the next section of feathers. This allows her to be able to fly at any given point in the molting process.
The Female Cardinal’s Sounds
Female Cardinal Call
Female Cardinal Song
Enjoy this lovely video of the female cardinal singing & calling!
The Female Cardinal’s Look vs Juvenile Cardinals
Juvenile cardinals, both male and female, look a lot like the female cardinal until they’ve reached the end of their first year in which the baby cardinal hatched.
By December each year, the juvenile cardinals will have lost their initial set of feathers and be replaced with adult feathers. Buff-brown for the female cardinals and red for the males.
During this time the juvenile cardinal’s beaks will also turn to the orange color of an adult.
The Female Cardinal’s Look Vs. other Bird species
Although she has unique coloring, there are several different bird species that look a lot like the female cardinal. Let’s check them out.
female cardinal vs pyrrhuloxia
The pyrrhuloxia has a very close look to the female cardinal – they have the same body shape & size, and both have crowns. I guess you would expect this since they’re both in the Cardinalidae family!
Some noticeable differences between the pyrrhuloxia and female cardinal are the cardinal’s crown is noticeably fuller, taller, and a different color. (The photo above is of the male but the female Pyrrhuloxia is very similar).
Additional differences are detailed in the table below.
| Attribute | Pyrrhuloxia | Cardinal |
|---|---|---|
| Beak | Yellow | Orange |
| Body | Light gray patches of red and black | Buff tan with patches of red and charcoal |
| Crown | Short and thin | Tall and full |
| Tail | Long and black mostly red | Long and red tan with red highlights |
| Mask | Red | Charcoal |
| Wings | Gray with red and black | Tan with red and black |
female cardinal vs cedar waxwing
Well, I don’t see the resemblance but I suppose if you’re squinting the female cardinal may resemble the cedar waxwing.
Cedar Waxwing sitting on a branch” class=”wp-image-667″/>The table below the photos details the differences between the female cardinal and cedar waxwing colors and overall appearance.
| Attribute | Cedar Waxwing | Cardinal |
|---|---|---|
| Beak | Black | Orange |
| Body | Gray back, brown face & neck | Buff tan with patches of red and charcoal |
| Crown | Short and thin | Tall and full |
| Tail | Short with yellow tip | Long and red tan with red highlights |
| Belly | Yellow | Buff-brown |
| Wings | Gray with red and black | Tan with red and black |
| Mask | Black around eyes (like a bandit) | Black around beak |
While the female cardinal may not get the same oohs and aahs as the male cardinal, she has her own unique coloration which is beautiful in its own way.
In my opinion, the female cardinal is more breathtaking because she has a range of colors that pop when you see her in your yard.
Happy Birding!
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