Posted by Susie Porter on August 8, 2008

Q: Hi! We have a family of cardinals who visit our feeder every day. A male, female and three babies. The babies hatched sixty days ago, but the parents are still feeding them from the feeder. The babies cannot fly well, and flutter and shake their wings constantly. Additionally, the beaks are dark, not cream colored — maybe because they haven't matured yet? They seem rather helpless and I worry they might not live through the winter. Is this normal for baby cardinals? Shouldn't they have matured and gone out on their own by now? Any information you can provide is appreciated — I'm worried about these babies! The mother looks 'odd' as if maybe she is a mix of a finch and a cardinal. Susie

Habitat: suburban/yard

State: Georgia

Habitat: suburban/yard

A: Nice for you to be able to enjoy the entire Cardinal family. To begin with, I don't think this is the same "family" that began nesting 60 days ago - I'm quite sure this is a second nesting (second family). Incubation for Cardinals is about 13 days long and the babies are able to fly in about 10 days after hatching. Granted, fledglings do rely on their parents for food for quite some time (this can vary) but I'm quite sure these are not the babies from 60 days ago.

Your observation about the darker bills is correct - the babies don't get the bright orange color until adulthood. I don't think you need to worry at all about the babies as they'll be just fine by fall, once cold weather sets in. As to the mother, she has both worn feathers from all of her activity and she is probably beginning to molt (lose old feathers and gain new) too.

Thanks for writing and I hope this helps.

John Wiessinger ( August 8, 2008)