This informative guide follows a year in the life of the Northern Cardinal with evocative text and gorgeous color photography.

Author June Osborne and photographer Barbara Garland capture the beauty and intrigue of this striking songbird. They describe how cardinals stake out territory and choose mates, find a nesting site, and incubate their eggs, feed the young and prepare them for full-fledged independence.

The Cardinal also explores the special relationship that humans have with their favorite redbirds. Osborne traces the symbolic use of cardinals as state birds and athletic mascots and shows how they appear on everything from postage stamps to Christmas cards, as well as in fine art, literature, and Native American folklore.