Nature's Nursery - A Green Heron

The Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is the state bird of Ohio, as well as, 6 other states—making it the most popular state bird. It is found from southern Canada throughout the eastern United States from Maine to Texas. Woodlands, gardens, scrublands and swamps are all favorite habitats for this bird. It is a permanent resident throughout its range although it may relocate to avoid extreme weather or if food is scarce.
The Northern Cardinal is a mid sized song bird. Its body length is 8-9 inches, its wingspan is 10-12 inches and they weigh about 1.48-1.69 ounces. Both males and females have a large crest on their heads and their face is surrounded by black. The male is a vibrant crimson and the female is a dull red-brown color with a red tail and wings. The male is slightly larger than the female.
The diet of the Northern Cardinal is mainly grains but they also feed on insects and fruit. They feed their young almost exclusively insects.
The males behave very territorially, marking their territory with a song. During courtship the male feeds seeds to the female. Cardinals make a carelessly constructed cup shaped nest using twigs, bark, weeds, grass, etc.
The male feeds the female while she is incubating the eggs. Northern Cardinals lay a clutch of 3-4 eggs two to four times a year. The eggs hatch in 12 to 13 days and the young fledge 10 to 11 days later. The male cares for, and feeds, each brood as the female incubates the next clutch of eggs.
The population density and range of the Northern Cardinal has increased over the last 200 years.

Additional Links:

http://goodfelloweb.com/birds/perching/cardinals/cardinal.html
http://Wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Cardinal
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Northern_Cardinal.html