A pair of rare, presumably mating, Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) were spotted in Spruce Grove, Alberta CAD.
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Observation: Within the time-frame between the end of March 2017 and beginning of April 2017, a pair, presumably a mating pair, of Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) were spotted in Spruce Grove, Alberta Canada (Dunn & Alderfer, 2011). A woman had identified them and reported it to a local bird and nature store in Edmonton called Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Shop (2017). Having called to initially ask the store about a Bald Eagle sighting, which they confirmed as normal, employees named Lorraine and Dave informed me of the Northern Cardinal sighting and stated that it was rare. There was no exact date for the sighting unfortunately. I was not given pictures either, although they did mention pictures were taken. The Northern Cardinal sighting was of interest to me because I envisioned the bird in my own backyard and how beautiful their plumage is, knowing well enough this is not its natural habitat, I was struck by all of the possibilities of why the bird was seen here.
C. cardinalis could have appeared in the Edmonton area for many different reasons and by a few different ways. It may have been captured and released here and would have survived due to milder weather at that time, allowing it to be temporarily exposed. It may have also ventured here in search of food, arriving on a warm front as a result of climate change and global warming; but to assume that is quite presumptuous. I think at this time thorough documentation with the assistance of citizen science will help, so in the future some of these questions can be answered with the acquisition of more data.
Publication resource:
Dunn, J.L., & Alderfer, J. (2011). Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society.
Thomashow, M. (2003). Chapter 4: A Place-Based Perceptual Ecology. In Bringing the Biosphere Home: Learning to Perceive Global Environmental Change. Cambridge MA, MIT Press.
Resources:
AccuWeather. (2017). Edmonton, Alberta Canada. Retrieved from https://www.accuweather.com/en/ca/edmonton/t6x/march-weather/52478
Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (2017). Northern Cardinal. Retrieved from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/id
Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (2017). State of North America’s birds 2016: more than one-third in need of conservation action. Retrieved from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/state-of-north-americas-birds-2016-more-than-one-third-in-need-of-conservation-action/
Ebird. (2017). Explore Data. Retrieved from http://ebird.org/ebird/map/norcar?neg=true&env.minX=132.17870046369546&env.minY=6.368602427852559&env.maxX=-2.8212995363045366&env.maxY=72.14438824654152&zh=true&gp=false&ev=Z&mr=on&bmo=3&emo=3&yr=cur&byr=2017&eyr=2017
Observations From Members