I have been told that rose hips are an excellent source of Vitamin C. They don’t seem to be the favorite food of the birds in my local marsh, however, and there are lots of the rose hips still around in mid-February. Northern Cardinals, though, will sometimes smash them against the railing of the boardwalk in order to get to the seeds inside, leaving behind a trail of discarded outer skins.
This past weekend, I watched a male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) patiently extract the seeds from a small pile of rose hips. There were plenty more available, but he seemed content to snack on only a few of them—maybe their taste is too strong or acidic to consume a large quantity of them.
I believe that these rose hips are from Swamp Roses (Rosa palustris), which covered parts of the marsh during the summer and were amazingly fragrant.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
In the bottom photo, he appears to have a message for you.
I was keeping my distance from him, but I got the distinct impression that he did not welcome my presence.
He certainly gave you a hard stare! Rose hips are indeed packed with vitamin C. I’ve read that birds are actually very picky about what they eat when it comes to fruit though. That’s why you’ll see crab apple trees loaded with shriveled fruit in February. There’s just something about it that they don’t like, and that’s why it’s important to research the plants you plan to use if you’re trying to attract birds to your yard.
Cardinals really love cat food too, for anyone who didn’t know … Great photos of this little cutie. 🙂
Great colours on this bird with an attitude!
I have never seen a cardinal do this. He really does an exotic taste.
Berry interesting! Well, now we know at least one species of bird that makes a mess on the boardwalk!
Always funny to see how they “eye” things sideways to get a real good look!
Lovely photos