More on Cardinals

I did a little reading about Cardinals since we hope to witness the hatching of a cardinal egg!

The pair is monogomous, and they live in the area all year long i.e. not migratory. And, the male is very protective of his territory. Males have been known to fly into windows in attack-mode thinking its reflection was another male.

It takes a female cardinal to build her nest about 3 - 9 days in dense trees/bushes with twigs. It took this cardinal 7 days.

Cardinals will lay 1 - 5 eggs, typically 3 eggs, and won't start incubating them until the last egg is laid. So maybe we are in for more eggs! They have multiple broods a year between March and September, sometimes beginning the next brood before the last brood has left the nest.

Once she starts incubating the eggs, they should hatch between 11-13 days. Both parents will feed the chicks a diet of insects (ew!!) and will continue to feed them for 1 -2 months even though the chicks will begin to leave the nest between 9 or 10 days after hatching. Does that sound like college life, anyone?