Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) [XC721721]
by Bobby Wilcox from Jamestown, Chautauqua County, New York, United States (dawn song)
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) [XC759257]
by Richard E. Webster from Vekol Wash, Sonoran Desert N.M., Arizona, United States (song)
Subspecies
Has in the past been placed in a separate genus, Richmondena. Forms a superspecies with Vermilion Cardinal (Cardinalis phoeniceus). The relationship of these two to Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus) the subject of varying opinions. One documented example of a wild-bred hybrid between present species and Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus), and hybridization in captivity reported. In captivity has hybridized also with Red-crested Cardinal (Paroaria coronata) and Yellow Cardinal (Gubernatrix cristata), to neither of which species is it closely related, both being currently placed in family Emberizidae. Subspecies fall into four groups based largely on colour of face mask of females, namely "cardinalis group" (comprising nominate, floridanus, magnirostris and canicaudus), "coccineus group" (coccineus, littoralis, yucatanicus, phillipsi, flammiger and saturatus), "igneus group" (igneus, superbus, townsendi, affinis, sinaloensis, mariae, seftoni and clintoni) and single-species "carneus group". In eastern Mexico, subspecies coccineus intergrades with canicaudus in northern coastal Veracruz and yucatanicus intergrades with phillipsi in southern Yucatán Peninsula. Subspecies carneus sometimes treated as a full species; conversely, sinaloensis treated by many authors as synonym of affinis, and floridanus sometimes subsumed into nominate. Southern USA populations in central Oklahoma, southern Arkansas, south-central Texas, all of Louisiana and south-western Mississippi included in magnirostris, but some may belong with another subspecies or represent as yet undescribed subspecies.
The following 19 subspecies are recognised:
superbus Ridgway, 1885 - South-western USA (extreme south-eastern California east through Arizona to south-western New Mexico) south to north-western Mexico (northern Sonora).
townsendi (van Rossem, 1932) - Tiburón I and adjacent coastal Sonora, in western Mexico.
affinis Nelson, 1899 - West-central Mexico (south-eastern Sonora, south-western Chihuahua, Sinaloa and western Durango).
sinaloensis Nelson, 1899 - Western Mexico (central and southern Sinaloa south to Michoacán).
mariae Nelson, 1898 - Tres Marías Is (María Madre, María Magdalena and María Cleofas), off Nayarit, in western Mexico.
seftoni (Huey, 1940) - Central Baja California (between c. 28° north and 27° north), in north-western Mexico.
igneus Baird, SF, 1860 - Baja California south of c. 27° north.
clintoni (Banks, 1963) - Cerralvo I, off south-eastern Baja California.
carneus (Lesson, PA, 1842) - Western coast of Mexico from Colima south to Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) - Most of eastern half of USA and south-eastern Canada from south-eastern South Dakota south to eastern Oklahoma and central Louisiana, east to Atlantic coast (except south-eastern Georgia and peninsular Florida).
magnirostris Bangs, 1903 - Southern USA from southern Texas and central Oklahoma east to southern Arkansas, Louisiana and south-western Mississippi.
canicaudus Chapman, 1891 - Western Oklahoma and central and western Texas south to central and eastern Mexico (from Coahuila south to eastern Jalisco, Guanajuato, central San Luis Potosí and Hidalgo).
coccineus Ridgway, 1873 - Atlantic slope of eastern Mexico in eastern San Luis Potosí, Veracruz, (except extreme south), north-eastern Puebla and northern Oaxaca.
littoralis Nelson, 1897 - Lowlands of southern Veracruz and Tabasco (south-eastern Mexico).
yucatanicus Ridgway, 1887 - Base of Yucatán Peninsula, in south-eastern Mexico.
phillipsi Parkes, 1997 - Coastal scrub of Yucatán.
flammiger Peters, JL, 1913 - South-eastern Mexico (central and southern Quintana Roo), north-eastern Belize and northern Guatemala (Petén).
saturatus Ridgway, 1885 - Cozumel I (off north-eastern Quintana Roo).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet