This is Bird Note.

Even without taking a poll, is there any doubt about the identity of America's best-known

Red Bird?

Surely, it's the Cardinal, or as you'll find in a bird book, the Northern Cardinal.

The Cardinals' scarlet, crested image adorns Christmas cards, bags of birdseed, and any

number of sports team jerseys.

It is simply, and being red doesn't hurt here, one of our best-known Backyard Birds.

So, would it surprise you to learn that Cardinals are missing from backyards in nearly half

of the United States?

It's the half west of the Rockies, or that only about half of all Cardinals are red.

Cardinals are all of brown with a few red highlights.

It's also true that the Cardinal scene on so many bird feeders takes its name from the

Cardinals found in the Vatican, whose hats and robes are red.

And among the Cardinals near relatives, the Cardinal on the bird feeder, that is, two are

also very red birds, the Summer Tannager, and Scarlet Tannager.

Despite their beauty, Tannagers are unlikely to unseat the Cardinal as our best-known red bird.

For Bird Note, I'm Mary McCann.