What is the difference between a cardinal and a Pyrrhuloxia?

It is similar to the Northern Cardinal in its song and behavior, and the two overlap in many desert areas. However, the Pyrrhuloxia can tolerate drier and more open habitats; it is less sedentary and more social than southwestern Cardinals, with flocks often wandering away from nesting areas in winter.

Is the Pyrrhuloxia related to the Cardinal?

Basic Description. Dapper in looks and cheerful in song, the Pyrrhuloxia is a tough-as-nails songbird of baking hot deserts in the American Southwest and northern Mexico. They’re closely related to Northern Cardinals, but they are a crisp gray and red, with a longer, elegant crest and a stubby, parrotlike yellow bill.

Where are Pyrrhuloxias found?

Habitat. Found in desert scrub, dry grasslands, and open mesquite forest.

What does a Pyrrhuloxia sound like?

Pyrrhuloxias make a sharp, metallic cheek or chip note, similar to that of the Northern Cardinal but lower in pitch. Other calls include a chattering contact call, a series of soft chipping notes during foraging, and a tseep call used by begging fledglings. Pyrrhuloxias often call while in flight.

Are there GREY Cardinal birds?

Pyrrhuloxia. Pyrrhuloxia birds look like cardinals; in fact, they are sometimes called the desert cardinal. The coloring is a bit different, though: Male pyrrhuloxias are mostly gray with red accents.

Are there black cardinals in Arizona?

Birders in Southern Arizona are familiar with this species as it is commonly found in our habitat and frequently seen sitting at the top of native trees. This bird has many common “nicknames” and is frequently called a “black Cardinal” or a “desert Cardinal”.

Are there any actual cardinals in Arizona?

Many people may be surprised that Northern cardinals are found in Arizona. Their range covers the entire Eastern half of the U.S., most of Mexico and only a tiny slice of southeastern Arizona. Cardinals are songbirds that make their home in thickets of all sorts, whether in the desert or in woodlands.

Is there a GREY cardinal?

Phainopepla. Phainopeplas (Phainopepla nitens) are roughly the same size and shape as cardinals, but have slightly more slender bodies and noticeably slimmer beaks. Males have shiny black plumage and females are all gray, so they also lack the distinctive red coloration of cardinals.

Do red cardinals live in Arizona?

Arizona Cardinal Bird Sightings Many people may be surprised that Northern cardinals are found in Arizona. Their range covers the entire Eastern half of the U.S., most of Mexico and only a tiny slice of southeastern Arizona. Phoenix is located in south central Arizona, so cardinal sightings here are rare.

Are there GREY cardinals?

Northern cardinals are an iconic-looking songbird of North America, having been named the official bird of seven Eastern states from Illinois to Virginia, but you may only recognize the red male of the species. The female is primarily colored light brown or gray with just slight touches of red.

How do you say Pyrrhuloxia?

Pyrrhuloxia — peer-uh-LOX-ee-a.

What does the root of pyrrhuloxia stand for?

The roots mean “flame-colored” and “crooked,” and aptly describe the reddish bird with the crooked bill. The Pyrrhuloxia has very similar vocalizations and behaviors to the closely related Northern Cardinal, which is found in the same range but tends to live in wetter habitats.

What kind of bird is a pyrrhuloxia?

Pyrrhuloxias are stocky, medium-sized songbirds with tall crests and long tails. They have heavy but short seed-cracking bills with a curved culmen, or upper edge. About the size of a Northern Cardinal; larger than a Black-throated Sparrow.

How to tell a pyrrhuloxia from a cardinal?

One easy way to tell them apart is the yellowish parrot-like bill of the pyrrhuloxia, versus the cardinal’s red bill. Length: 8.75 in. Wingspan: 12 in.

What kind of habitat does the pyrrhuloxia live in?

This cardinal is relatively nonmigratory, though it may occasionally stray slightly north of its usual range. The pyrrhuloxia prefers habitat along stream beds. In areas where the range of the pyrrhuloxia and northern cardinal overlap, hybridization may occur between them.