Quick answer
A male Northern Cardinal is bright red all over with a black face mask. A female is warm tan or buff-brown with red tinges on her crest, wings and tail, and a softer gray mask. Both have the same thick orange-red bill. Juveniles look like females but have a dark bill that turns orange over their first few months.
In this guide
A male Northern Cardinal is red from crest to tail, with a black mask around the bill. A female is warm tan-brown, washed with red on the crest, wings and tail. They are the same size and shape, and both carry the same heavy orange-red bill. Once you know to look for red accents on a brown bird, the female is easy to pick out.
The trickier birds are the young ones and the adults in late-summer molt. Both are covered below, along with the few birds that get mistaken for cardinals.
Male vs female cardinal at a glance
| Feature | Adult male | Adult female | Juvenile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body | Bright red all over, slightly duller on the back | Warm tan to buff-brown, grayer-brown on the back | Plain brown, duller than the female |
| Red | Everywhere | Crest, wings and tail, sometimes a faint blush on the breast | Little at first, mostly in the wings and tail |
| Face | Black mask around the bill and throat | Softer gray to blackish mask | Faint or no mask |
| Bill | Thick, bright orange-red | Thick, orange-red, same as the male | Dark gray to blackish, turning orange over the first months |
| Crest | Red, raised or laid flat | Brown with reddish tints | Brown, often scruffy |
| Song | Loud, clear whistles | Sings too, often from the nest | Mostly begging calls |
How to identify a female cardinal
Female cardinals are often taken for a different species entirely. Four checks settle it:
- The bill. A thick, cone-shaped, orange-red bill on a brown bird is the giveaway. No other common feeder bird in most of the country has one like it.
- Red accents. Look at the wing edges, the tail and the tip of the crest. All show red or reddish orange.
- Shape. The same pointed crest and fairly long tail as the male, and the same length, about 8 to 9 inches.
- Company. In spring and summer she is usually near a male, and in winter cardinals gather in loose flocks where both sexes feed together.
Female cardinals sing, something the females of many North American songbirds rarely do. She often sings from the nest, and a pair may trade phrases back and forth.
Listen, too
Both sexes give a sharp, metallic chip call, often the first sign that a cardinal is hidden in the shrubs. The song is a string of loud, clear whistles, often written as cheer-cheer-cheer or birdie-birdie-birdie. Hearing it from a brown bird tells you it is a female, not a young bird, since juveniles mostly give begging calls.
Why some males look brighter than others
A cardinal's red comes from pigments called carotenoids in the seeds and fruit it eats, so the shade varies from bird to bird. Males also look a little duller in fresh fall feathers and brighter by spring, as the grayish feather tips wear away.
Behavior: who does what
- Courtship feeding. From late winter into spring, a male picks up a seed, hops over to the female and places it in her bill. It looks like a kiss, and it is one of the surest signs you are watching a pair.
- Nest building. The female builds the nest, usually in a dense shrub or vine tangle. The male may bring her material and food while she works.
- Incubation. The female sits on the eggs, and the male often brings food to her at the nest.
- Raising young. Both parents feed the nestlings. When the female starts another nest, the male often takes over feeding the fledglings from the first brood.
- Territory. Males defend their territory with song and chases. In spring, a male, and sometimes a female, may spend hours attacking its own reflection in a window or car mirror.
Window fighting is territorial, not a sign of illness, and it fades as the breeding season winds down. Covering the outside of the glass helps in the meantime; see why a bird attacks its reflection.
Juvenile cardinals and young males
Young cardinals leave the nest before they can fly well and look like brown, short-tailed versions of the female. You will usually see them from late spring through fall, often fluttering their wings and begging from a parent, frequently the male.
Juvenile or female?
- Bill color. This is the clearest difference. Adult females have an orange-red bill; juveniles have a dark gray to blackish bill that gradually turns orange over their first few months.
- Overall tone. Juveniles are plainer and browner, with less red in the wings and tail and little or no dark mask.
- Behavior. A brown cardinal begging with quivering wings is a youngster.
Young males turning red
Young males molt into adult plumage during their first late summer and fall. For a few weeks they look patchy: a brown body with blotches of red on the breast, head and wings, and a bill somewhere between black and orange. By early winter most look like adult males. More detail, including how to age a young bird, is in juvenile cardinal identification.
Bald cardinals in late summer
Late summer is molt season for adults too. Some cardinals lose most of their head feathers at once and look bald, with dark skin showing. It looks alarming, but it is widely seen at feeders in late summer, and the feathers usually grow back within a few weeks. See why birds lose head feathers. A bird that also looks lethargic, stays puffed up or has crusty eyes is a different matter: take the feeders down and clean them.
Birds mistaken for cardinals
| Bird | How it differs | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Pyrrhuloxia | Gray body with red on the face, crest, wings and breast; short, stubby yellow bill | Desert Southwest |
| Summer Tanager | Male all red but with no crest and no black mask; pale bill | Southern states, spring to fall |
| Scarlet Tanager | Red body with jet-black wings and tail; no crest | Eastern US in summer, mostly in treetops |
| House Finch | Much smaller; male red only on head, breast and rump, with brown streaks | Nearly everywhere |
| Cedar Waxwing | Crested and brown like a female cardinal, but with a black mask, yellow tail tip and small dark bill | Across the US, in roving flocks |
Very rarely, a genetic variation produces a cardinal that is yellow where it should be red. It is still a Northern Cardinal, just an unusual one. For other red-headed and red-bodied birds, see birds with red heads.
A quick checklist at the feeder
- Red all over with a black face: adult male.
- Tan-brown with red wings, tail and crest, and an orange bill: adult female.
- Plain brown with a dark bill: juvenile, late spring through fall.
- Brown and red in patches: young male molting, late summer into fall.
- Gray with red trim and a yellow bill, in the desert Southwest: Pyrrhuloxia.
Want more of both at your feeder? How to attract cardinals covers the seed, feeders and shrubs they look for.
Questions people ask
Are female cardinals red?
Not all over. Female cardinals are tan-brown with red on the crest, wings and tail, and they have the same orange-red bill as males.
Do female cardinals sing?
Yes. Female cardinals sing, often from the nest, and pairs may trade song phrases back and forth.
Why does a cardinal have a black beak?
It is almost certainly a juvenile. Young cardinals have dark bills that turn orange-red over their first few months.
Do male and female cardinals stay together?
Many pairs stay together through the year and nest together again the next spring, though a bird will find a new mate if its partner is lost.
Written by the Backyard Birdcam team with AI assistance. Found something we got wrong? Email shop@smarternewsnow.com and we will fix it. How we write our guides.