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

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Cardinalidae Cardinalidae (sometimes referred to as "cardinal-grosbeaks" or simply "cardinals") is a family of New World-Endemism, endemic passerine birds that consists of Cardinalis, cardinals, grosbeaks, and Passerina, buntings. It also includes several ot ...

, the cardinals or cardinal grosbeaks. It is found in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

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 "unisp ...

. 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 The pyrrhuloxia or desert cardinal (''Cardinalis sinuatus'') is a medium-sized North American songbird found in the American southwest and northern Mexico. This distinctive species with a short, stout bill and red crest and wings, and closely ...

(''C. sinuatus'') than to the

northern cardinal The northern cardinal (''Cardinalis cardinalis''), also commonly known as the common cardinal, red cardinal, or simply cardinal, is a bird in the genus ''Cardinalis''. It can be found in southeastern Canada, through the eastern United States fro ...

(''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 state. The other is further east in Venezuela, from

Anzoátegui Anzoátegui State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, states of Venezuela, located in the northeastern region of the country. Anzoátegui is well known for its beaches that attract many visitors. Its coast consists of a single beach approx ...

state east to

Sucre Sucre (; ) is the ''de jure'' capital city of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the sixth most populous city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . This relatively high ...

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 The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

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 Cardinalis Birds of Colombia Birds of Venezuela Birds of the Venezuelan Coastal Range Margarita Island Birds described in 1838 Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte Taxonomy articles created by Polbot