Field guide · 3 birds
A flash of red at the feeder is one of birding's great thrills. In most red birds only the male is bright red; females are browner or olive, which is worth remembering when you try to identify them.
Bill shape helps: a thick cone for seed-eaters like the cardinal and house finch, a slimmer bill for insect-eaters like the scarlet tanager.
| Bird | Group | Colors | Habitat | Region | Length | Wingspan | Diet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Cardinal | Cardinals & allies | Red, Black | Backyards | Eastern | 9 in | 11 in | Seeds |
| Scarlet Tanager | Cardinals & allies | Red, Black | Forest | Eastern | 7 in | 11 in | Insects |
| House Finch | Finches | Red, Brown | Backyards | Nationwide | 5 in | 9 in | Seeds |
The northern cardinal is the crested red bird of eastern backyards, a year-round resident that brightens snowy feeders and whistles from treetops in late winter. It is the state bird of seven states, more than any other species, and it has spread steadily north into New England and southeastern Canada over the past century.
Read the full guide →The scarlet tanager is a forest songbird whose breeding male, blazing red with jet-black wings and tail, looks almost too tropical for an eastern oak woods. It spends the summer high in the canopy of large deciduous forests and the winter in South America, so most people find it by ear long before they see it.
Read the full guide →The house finch is the red-headed finch that warbles from rooftops and crowds sunflower feeders across most of the United States. Native to the West and Mexico, it reached the East only after caged birds were turned loose on Long Island in 1940, and it is now one of the most familiar backyard birds on the continent.
Read the full guide →Think you could name them from a few clues? A new mystery bird drops every day.
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