Q 01/05

Why do male northern cardinals so often attack windows and car mirrors during the breeding season?

A) They are hunting trapped flies

B) They are fighting a rival

C) They are drawn to warmth

D) They want shiny nest material

Answer · why

B) They are fighting a rival

They are fighting a rival, or think so: a territorial cardinal takes his own reflection for an intruder and attacks it relentlessly.

Q 02/05

How many US states have chosen the northern cardinal as their official state bird, a national record?

A) 3

B) 7

C) 14

D) 28

Answer · why

B) 7

7 states have picked it, more than any other species, in a block running from Illinois and Ohio down to Virginia and North Carolina.

Q 03/05

The northern cardinal is named after the red-robed senior clergy of which Christian church?

A) Eastern Orthodox

B) Anglican

C) Roman Catholic

D) Lutheran

Answer · why

C) Roman Catholic

Roman Catholic cardinals wear distinctive red robes and caps, and the bird's genus name Cardinalis is simply the Latin word for them.

Q 04/05

Rare northern cardinals that cannot turn the pigments in their food red grow feathers of which colour?

A) Yellow

B) White

C) Blue

D) Orange

Answer · why

A) Yellow

Yellow cardinals lack the enzyme that converts food pigments into red ones, so the beak changes colour too, though the dark face mask stays.

Q 05/05

Which feathers do northern cardinals sometimes drop all at once while molting, to startling effect?

A) Tail plumes

B) Wing plumes

C) Breast plumes

D) Head plumes

Answer · why

D) Head plumes

Head plumes can fall out together, leaving a bald cardinal with charcoal skin and visible ear openings until they quickly regrow.