Pyrrhuloxia The Desert Cardinal
by Teresa Zieba
Title
Pyrrhuloxia The Desert Cardinal
Artist
Teresa Zieba
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
The pyrrhuloxia or desert cardinal (Cardinalis sinuatus) is a medium-sized North American song bird found in the American southwest and northern Mexico. This distinctive species with a short, stout bill, red crest and wings, closely resembles the northern and the vermilion cardinals which are in the same genus.
The most obvious differences between the male desert cardinal and the northern cardinal are in their coloring. The desert cardinal is predominantly brownish-gray with a red breast, a red mask, and a yellow parrot-like bill that is stout and rounded. The females of the two species resemble each other much more closely, but the shapes of their bills are diagnostic. The songs of the two species are identical, though the pyrrhuloxia's is not quite as loud. This cardinal retains the distinctive long pointed red crest present in all species.
The pyrrhuloxia is a year-round resident of desert scrub and mesquite thickets, in the U.S. states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas and woodland edges in Mexico.
Photographed south of Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Uploaded
October 3rd, 2016
Statistics
Viewed 442 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/22/2024 at 12:10 PM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet