Juvenile Cardinal

Young cardinals have the same shape as their parents. Immature cardinals are often confused with their mothers because they lack the bright red feathers of their fathers. While the young cardinals' feathers appear very similar to their mothers (from my observations, I think that the coloring is darker and blacker than the olive colored females), the distinguishing feature is the black bill - same shape , but different color.

In future blog postings, I'll show you why the cardinals - male, female, young - visit the Colvin Run Habitat.