Pyrrhuloxia (cardinalis sinuatus)

by Jeff Dean

Here, below, is a photo of a male Pyrrhuloxia (cardinalis sinuatus) I took in 2004 at a feeder behind my home in Tucson. The Pyrrhuloxia is a close cousin to the famous all-red Northern Cardinal (cardinalis cardinalis), but is much less well known. This Pyrrhuloxia is a male.

If you see a Pyrrhuloxia, you must be in southern Arizona, southern New Mexico, in southwestern Texas, or in central or northern Mexico. Cardinals and Pyrrhuloxia co-exist in these locales. The Pyrrhuloxia range map, below left, is from Dave Allen Sibley's excellent The Sibley Guide to Birds (page 464).

A female Pyrrhuloxia (see photo at the right) can be distinguished from the female Cardinal by its yellow bill and gray (not brownish) coloration. The female shown here is a juvenile, so her bill has not yet turned to all yellow.

The Pyrrhuloxia's "what-cheer, what-cheer" song is thinner and shorter than that of a Northern Cardinal's, but otherwise sounds similar to it. Its gray-and-red coloration makes for an exciting and striking appearance. This bird is slightly smaller than the average Redbird, and its yellow, parrot-like, bill set it apart from the Cardinal's red bill.

Here, above right, is a male Northern Cardinal (cardinalis cardinalis) in full-throated song at Tucson's Sonoran Desert Museum. Note the red bill, which helps to distinguish the brownish-gray female Northern Cardinal from the Pyrrhuloxia.
Above, left, is a Brazilian Cardinal (paroaria coronata), which was introduced into Hawaii around 1930 and is now common there.
Below is a Pyrrhuloxia nest we discovered in a cholla near our home in the spring of 2004 complete with three eggs.