Primarily a species of the eastern and southern United States, the Northern Cardinal reaches Canada mainly in Ontario's Carolinian region but has expanded to eastern Ontario, southern Quebec and parts of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Results from the Breeding Bird Survey and breeding bird atlas projects demonstrate that Northern Cardinal has greatly increased in abundance and breeding range relative to the 1970s. These increases are likely the result of warmer winters and increased food supply from bird feeders (McLaren 2007).
The Northern Cardinal has benefited from changes brought to the landscape since the settlement period in North America. With the conversion of forests to agriculture and suburban areas, nesting habitat has increased and bird feeding operations may have helped birds overwinter in areas that would otherwise have not been suitable (Halkin and Linville 1999, Bliss 2015). Less severe winter weather has also allowed for range expansion (Bliss 2015). Despite its obvious success, the Northern Cardinal is a frequent host of Brown-headed Cowbird parasitism; nesting success is generally low (Halkin and Linville 1999).
Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:
Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.
