Real Estate in Barrington & The Northwest Suburbs: The Cardinal - State Bird of Illinois - Bright and Pretty Against a Harsh Landscape

The Northern Cardinal is the State Bird of Illinois.

A sign that winter has arrived is the brilliant crimson red of The Cardinal.  It's not that they only visit at winter - more that he becomes obvious. In fact they live here year round. The male is red - the female brown with a red breast. In the summer they are not as noticeable as they can hide in the trees and bushes amongst the leaves like all the other birds.

Seen below is a male bird helping himself the the seeds dropped by birds above him on the birdfeeder in my back yard today. The photo is a little dull as every time I used flash he moved. So I opted to use natural light - I was also inside the house as I knew the minute I opened the door he would go. They are timid little birds.

You can see the snow on his beak - he has been busily picking up food from the foot of snow for a good few minutes. Another regular visitor at this time of year is the Blue Jay. He sits on our treee and waits for the feeder to be unused. He is too big to land - so he flys in snatches some seed and goes back to the tree to eat - very clever.

We have two feeders, one in the front and one in the back. I only add a half cup of seed to each as if I fill it up the deers will eat it all overnight. We also have a resident field mouse who patrols at night looking for scraps. I wish I could get a photo of him - he tunnels under the snow and comes up where he no doubt an smell food. I just hope the owls don't find him.

Living in the suburbs of a big city like Chicago can mean that wildlife is hard to watch. That is why I love Barrington and the country type of living Barrington residents enjoy so much. It is very grounding to watch the wildlife fight to survive in the snowy winter months.