Spring Season Board: Cardinal
Living in Ohio, we naturally have tons of Cardinals in our yard. Since they are plentiful and easy to identify, they were an easy pick for our first bird. The coloring page we’ll be using can be found at ColoringOnly.com.
For the feathers, I decided to get white ostrich feathers used for fringe trim and dye them to the colors I need. Cardinals are not the only birds we’re going to learn about, so this seemed to be the most cost effective way to get lots of small feathers that I could dye to “natural” colors. Next up, I added some vinegar and food coloring to a small mason jar. I didn’t really measure anything and just added food coloring until I thought it looked good. Then I cut off several inches of feathers and tossed them in. After a few minutes of soaking, I pulled them out to let them dry on a paper towel. Many of the feathers re-fluffed on their own as they dried and the rest just needed a quick rub through the fingers.
Coloring these pages took a little more guidance than normal since male and female cardinals look different, but it’s a great way to introduce the idea of sexual dimorphism since it is found in a lot of organisms. Here are some fun facts:
Scientific name: Cardinalis cardinalis
A recording of their song can be found here.
Males are red while females are brown with red wings and tails.*
They are mainly seed eaters (granivorous), but also eat insects and fruit.
It is the state bird of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Keep in mind, I’m teaching toddlers so I’m trying to simplify things a lot for them. The colors are a little more complex than this and you can point that out if you have older kids. Once the coloring was done, the girls used glue sticks to help attach the red dyed feathers to the red colored area. It worked really well and they enjoy petting their birds after hanging them up.
