The vermilion cardinal (''Cardinalis phoeniceus'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in the family Cardinalidae, the cardinals or cardinal grosbeaks. It is found in Colombia and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The vermilion cardinal is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

. It and the other species of genus ''Cardinalis'' were at one time placed in genera ''Richmondena'' and ''Pyrrhuloxia''. The vermilion cardinal is more closely related to the pyrrhuloxia (''C. sinuatus'') than to the

northern cardinal The northern cardinal (''Cardinalis cardinalis'') is a bird in the genus '' Cardinalis''; it is also known colloquially as the redbird, common cardinal, red cardinal, or just cardinal (which was its name prior to 1985). It can be found in southe ...

(''C. cardinalis'').Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 19 January 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved January 19, 2021Brewer, D. (2020). Vermilion Cardinal (''Cardinalis phoeniceus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.vercar1.01 retrieve May 15, 2021

Description

The vermilion cardinal is long. Both sexes have long feathers on the crown that are typically erect. The male is almost entirely red, though it varies from very bright to somewhat dusky. It has a narrow black band around the lower part of its heavy gray bill. The female's crown is gray and the elongated feathers red. The rest of the head is brownish gray with white patches near the bill. The upperparts are grayish brown warming to brown on the rump and the underparts are buffy cinnamon. The juvenile is similar to the female but with more, and richer, brown.

Distribution and habitat

The vermilion cardinal is found in two disjunct areas. One spans from the Guajira Peninsula of northeastern Colombia into northern Venezuela as far as

Lara Lara may refer to: Places * Lara (state), a state in Venezuela * Electoral district of Lara, an electoral district in Victoria, Australia * Lara, Antalya, an urban district in Turkey * Lara, Victoria, a township in Australia * Lara de los ...

state. The other is further east in Venezuela, from Anzoátegui state east to

Sucre Sucre () is the capital of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the 6th most populated city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . This relatively high altitude gives the ...

state including Margarita Island. It inhabits semi-arid scrublands characterized by cactus and spiny legumes. It generally is found from sea level to but has been recorded as high as in Lara.

Behavior

Feeding

The vermilion cardinal forages singly, in pairs, or in small groups through low vegetation. Its diet includes invertebrates, fleshy fruits, and seeds.

Breeding

Six vermilion cardinal nests have been described, all from Margarita Island. They were open cups placed in cactus or a bush. The nesting season spanned June to early August. Four of the nests had three eggs and one had four. Only the female incubates the eggs and broods the nestlings but both sexes feed the young.

Vocalization

The vermilion cardinal's song is "a pleasant...'cheer o-weet-toweet toweet toweet'

Its call is a "chip

Status

The IUCN has assessed the vermilion cardinal as being of Least Concern. Though it has a restricted range, it appears to be common in much of it. However, capture for the pet trade in some locations "undoubtedly has significant negative effect on populations."

References

External links

Vermilion cardinal videos
on the Internet Bird Collection

(for

) with range map
Vermilion cardinal photo gallery
VIREO {{Taxonbar, from=Q854674 vermilion cardinal Birds of Colombia Birds of Venezuela Birds of the Venezuelan Coastal Range Margarita Island vermilion cardinal vermilion cardinal Taxonomy articles created by Polbot