Cardinals in Alabama: The Backyard Favorite That Isn’t the Official State Bird

Walk into almost any backyard in Alabama and there’s a good chance a flash of scarlet will catch your eye near the feeder. Cardinals in Alabama are so common and so beloved that most residents assume the bird is the state’s official symbol — but that honor actually belongs to a different species entirely. This guide breaks down what makes these red songbirds tick, where they live across the state, and how to bring more of them to your own yard.

Introduction to Cardinals in Alabama

The Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is one of the most recognizable birds in the Southeast, and Alabama is no exception. According to Outdoor Alabama, the state’s wildlife agency, the species is common in all seasons and regions, with a lowest conservation concern status. That means whether someone lives in Huntsville, Mobile, or a rural spot in the Black Belt, cardinals are likely nesting nearby year-round.

Here’s the twist many longtime residents don’t realize: the cardinal isn’t Alabama’s official state bird. That title belongs to the yellowhammer, a nickname for the northern flicker. As A-Z Animals notes, Alabama named the “yellowhammer,” aka the northern flicker, as its official state bird in 1927. The cardinal simply never received the legislative designation here, even though it’s the official bird in seven other states.

Alabama’s bird diversity goes well beyond cardinals and flickers, too. Per Lonely Planet, Alabama has over 430 bird species and hundreds of designated viewing areas, making it a genuinely rewarding state for birders of any experience level. If you’re curious how cardinals stack up size-wise against other native species, the largest birds in North America offer a striking contrast to this compact songbird.

Trait	Details
Scientific Name	Cardinalis cardinalis
Length	8 to 9 inches
Weight	1 to 2 ounces
Status in Alabama	Common, year-round, statewide
Diet	Omnivore — seeds, insects, berries, fruit

Approximate length is eight to nine inches and average weight of adult cardinals is one to two ounces, according to Outdoor Alabama, making them noticeably larger than many other feeder visitors like chickadees or wrens.

Understanding Cardinals in Alabama

Identifying a cardinal is usually easy, but the differences between males and females trip up a lot of new birdwatchers. Males are nearly all brilliant red with a coral red, conical bill surrounded by a black mask, reddish-black legs and feet, short rounded wings, and a distinctive crest of feathers atop the head. Females look quite different.

Feature	Male	Female
Body Color	Brilliant red	Buff brown
Accent Color	N/A	Red on crest, wings, tail
Bill	Coral red	Coral red, black mask
Song	Frequent singer	Also sings

The female cardinal is a buff brown with red on her crest, wings, and tail, and her bill is also surrounded by a black mask. Young cardinals resemble females but have a giveaway feature: immature cardinals resemble the female, but have a gray-black rather than a coral red bill. If you’re comparing cardinals to other Alabama songbirds, it’s worth checking out the state’s purple birds and blue-colored species to see how differently plumage evolved across native birds.

Diet and Foraging Behavior

Cardinals aren’t picky eaters, and that flexibility is part of why they thrive in Alabama’s mix of forests, farmland, and suburbs. The northern cardinal diet consists of seeds, grains, insects, leaf buds, berries, and fruit, with up to one-third of their summer diet made up of insects while winter diet shifts mostly to large seeds. That insect intake matters most during breeding season, since young cardinals are fed a diet consisting largely of insects — including the kinds of bugs and spiders found across Alabama that provide the protein nestlings need to grow quickly. For a broader look at what keeps backyard birds fed through the seasons, see this breakdown of what birds eat to survive.

Habitat Across the State

Cardinals aren’t fussy about where they settle, either. Typical habitat for the northern cardinal includes woodland edges and clearings, brushy areas, thickets, riparian woodlands, parks, suburban gardens, and residential areas. That overlaps with habitat used by many of Alabama’s woodpeckers and the wetland species covered in this guide to water birds in Alabama, which is why a single stretch of woods or a well-planted backyard can host a surprising variety of species at once.

Breeding and Pair Behavior

Cardinal courtship starts early in the year. Pair formation begins in early spring, with the male performing a variety of physical displays to attract a mate. Once paired, they tend to stay that way: breeding pairs may remain together throughout the year and may breed together for several seasons, as northern cardinals are socially monogamous.

The Rare Yellow Cardinal Phenomenon

Every so often, Alabama produces a headline-grabbing exception to the standard red-and-brown color scheme. In one widely reported case out of Shelby County, the bird was first spotted in January, and the resident said the bird arrived in her backyard at least once a day. According to Live Science, the mutant bird has yellow feathers because of a rare genetic mutation that blocks its ability to assimilate red hues. Auburn University biology professor Geoffrey Hill, who studies cardinal coloration, described just how uncommon the sighting was: “There are probably a million bird feeding stations in that area, so very, very roughly, yellow cardinals are a one-in-a-million mutation,” he told AL.com.

Important Note: Yellow cardinals are not a separate species — they’re standard Northern Cardinals with a pigment mutation. Sightings have also been documented in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, so an odd-colored cardinal at an Alabama feeder is rare but not impossible.

Practical Guidance on Cardinals in Alabama

Attracting cardinals to an Alabama yard is less about luck and more about matching their preferences for food, feeders, water, and cover. Because cardinals stick around all year rather than migrating, a yard that meets their needs in January can keep hosting the same pair well into summer.

Food They Actually Prefer

Cardinals have a stout, cone-shaped bill built for cracking open large seeds, and that shapes what they’ll show up for. According to Perky-Pet, Northern Cardinals have a strong, thick beak perfect for large seeds, with safflower seeds, black oil sunflower seeds, and white milo among their favorites. Beyond those staples, cardinals also enjoy crushed peanuts, cracked corn, and berries, with small chunks of suet being a good winter option.

• Black oil sunflower seeds
• Safflower seeds
• White milo
• Cracked corn
• Crushed peanuts
• Suet (especially in winter)
• Berries and fruit

Choosing the Right Feeder

Feeder style matters more than most people expect. Cardinals are heavier and less agile on narrow perches than smaller songbirds, so Bob Vila points out that a feeder with a platform allowing cardinals to eat while facing forward works well, since they have larger jaw muscles than other songbirds and need a feeder that can handle bigger seeds. Hopper and platform feeders consistently outperform tube feeders for this reason.

Pro Tip: Look for feeders with wide trays and sturdy construction, since cardinals prefer feeders they can approach directly rather than ones requiring acrobatic maneuvers.

Water and Landscaping

Food alone won’t hold cardinals’ interest for long. Cardinals need easy access to water for both drinking and bathing, and providing birdbaths or bird waterers is the ideal way to meet that need. Depth matters, too — baths with a depth of 2 to 3 inches at the deepest point tend to work best.

Placement near cover is just as important as the water itself. Because cardinals prefer protective cover while feeding, food sources should be placed near trees and shrubbery, where the birds can enjoy the foliage and feel safer with hiding spots nearby. That’s also where nesting happens: cardinals build nests in dense vegetation, typically 3 to 15 feet above ground, so mature shrubs and small trees do double duty as both a dining room and a nursery.

Before planting new shrubs to attract cardinals or other backyard birds, it’s worth checking this list of plants that are poisonous to birds, since some popular ornamental species can do more harm than good around a feeding station.

Timing Your Feeder Visits

Cardinals follow a fairly predictable daily rhythm. Kingsyard notes that early morning and late afternoon are peak feeding times, with cardinals often the first birds at feeders at dawn and the last to leave at dusk. Keeping feeders topped off before sunrise and again in the late afternoon gives cardinals the best chance of finding food when they’re most active.

1. Stock feeders with black oil sunflower seed, safflower, and cracked corn.
2. Choose a hopper or platform feeder rather than a tube feeder.
3. Place feeders 5 to 10 feet from dense shrubs or trees for quick escape cover.
4. Add a shallow birdbath with moving water nearby.
5. Refill feeders in early morning and late afternoon.
6. Skip insecticides and herbicides that remove natural food sources.

Where to See Cardinals Around Alabama

For anyone who’d rather observe cardinals in the wild than set up a feeder, Alabama’s birding trail network makes that easy. The Alabama Birding Trails program lists cardinal-friendly stops across the state, and Alabama’s broader birding tourism push highlights the species alongside other colorful natives. As Lonely Planet describes it, Alabama’s birding sites feature everything from jewel-colored Painted and Indigo Buntings to scarlet-hued Summer Tanagers and Northern Cardinals, making a single outing worthwhile even for casual birdwatchers.

Conclusion

Cardinals in Alabama earn their popularity honestly: they’re bright, they’re loyal to their mates, and they stick around all year instead of disappearing every winter. Whether the goal is spotting one on a birding trail or coaxing a breeding pair into a backyard feeder, the same basics apply — the right seed, the right feeder shape, reliable water, and enough shrub cover to make a yard feel safe.

And the next time someone insists the cardinal is Alabama’s official state bird, it’s worth mentioning the yellowhammer quietly holding that title since 1927. For more on the state’s colorful residents, the guide to green birds in Alabama is a natural next stop.