If you’ve ever witnessed a game once popular, going by the name Angry Birds, then you probably know where I’m going with this.
Both Blue Jay and Cardinal have been featured in this game with their strong vow of diminishing every obstacle and structure that may stand their way.
It tells a lot about the innate traits of these birds in hand – both being infamous for agonizing temper and aggressive behavior toward whomever may dissatisfy them.
Let me assure you, the battle of Cardinal vs Blue Jay is going to be an interesting one, because they are visible different birds but the underlying similarities are quite shocking in my opinion.
So why not tag along on the journey to get familiarized with these species and see where they stand as opposed to one another?
Contents
Blue Jay & Cardinal: Basic Info
First things first – the most basic and essential info on these two species should give us some idea about what we’ll be dealing with soon after.
Blue Jay
Source: @whisperingmysticforest
- Scientific Name: Cyanocitta cristata
- Size: 22 to 30 cm (9 to 12 in)
- Locality: Southern Canada, eastern and central United States
- Status: Least Concern
- Breeding Season: March to July
Blue Jays are passerines draped with some wonderful textures on the feathers with some meaningful symbolisms. It’s even named after the magnificent blue color that translates from Greek into “blue chattering bird”. Also, the Latin phrasing hints at the crest sitting on top of the head. If you want to shorten down the name, an easy nickname assigned to the species is “jaybird”.
Northern Cardinal
Source: @whisperingmysticforest
- Scientific Name: Pinicola enucleator
- Size: 20 to 25.5 cm (7.9 to 10.0 in)
- Locality: Northern Eurasia and North America
- Status: Least Concern
- Breeding Season: Mid May to early August
Northern Cardinal is a flashy red-colored bird that often goes by the simple name “redbird”. This passerine is the nominate species for the entire Cardinal group and often regarded synonymously, so don’t get confused. It shares the name with a few other cardinal birds under the Cardinalis genera. Being a red-chested bird, this was considered to be rare in nature, but current population suggests the numbers are high enough to classify as safe.
Cardinal vs Blue Jay: Identification Differences
Visual differences between Blue Jay and Cardinal are stark because no feature seems to resemble these two species. Let’s get the size, shape and color variations out of the way to land a solid identification in the quickest possible time!
- Size: Out of the two, Cardinals are slightly smaller than Blue Jays. Weightwise, Blue Jays are much heavier and can weigh up to twice as much as the other species in concern. When both of their wings are spreaded, the size difference becomes more apparent due to Blue Jays having a wider span.
- Shape: When it comes to shapes, Cardinals are plump-sized with a puffy chest and mohawk on top of the head. Blue Jays are ideal representatives of passerines due to their prolonged shape and a blunt head. Beaks are longer on jaybirds as opposed to a tiny triangle for Cardinal bills. Tail shapes are somewhat similar for them both.
- Color: The most varying factor between these species is the colorization on their feathers. On one hand, Blue Jays flaunt an alluring sapphire feather tone that’s textured with darker blues on the wings and tail.
On the other hand, Cardinals are a vibrant red and wings as well as tails are mostly reddish-brown. Blue Jay also has a black ring around its neck. Cardinal’s blackness is only concentrated on the face – surrounding the beaks.
Key Distinctions between Cardinal & Blue Jay
Aside from their visuals, there are so many more factors that set these species apart! Some of these might even catch you by surprise because of these unprecedented traits being so rare in passerines.
No. of Subspecies
In terms of subspecies number, Blue Jays are quite limited with only four variants. They look almost alike, only the abdomen area’s brightness differs from one to the next. These blue birds are distributed across different parts of North America.
Holding against jaybirds, Cardinals have a larger number of subspecies, cranking up to 19 in total. The first and nominate subspecies records back to 1758 in the hands of Carolus Linnaeus and the last record was documented in 1963.
Distribution
Cardinals are year-round residents in the eastern and southeastern parts of North America. Florida, Texas and the surrounding locality hosts the largest population for the species. Blue Jays however roam over a slightly larger periphery of lands, extending more toward the southwest. Their territories are divided into year-round and nonbreeding ranges.
Source: @sreeraj_ravi
Pigmentation
Feather pigmentation’s presence implies a bird’s feather is colored regardless of its attachment or detachment to the bird. Cardinal feathers are red-pigmented and retain the color even when it has fallen off or broken down into pieces.
Blue Jays carry uniquely natured feathers that aren’t pigmented, rather a resultant of the internal structure. So when you disassemble a jaybird feather, the saturated blue will soon disappear due to the loss of that structure.
Diet
In hindsight, it might seem like these two species are granivorous and that shouldn’t stand as a differentiating factor. But in actuality, Blue Jays are omnivorous despite the large proportion of vegetation they consume on a regular basis. It includes fruits, seeds, weeds, invertebrates and similar diets.
Cardinals are mainly granivorous since 90% of their food habit depends on grains and seeds. The rest of the 10% comprises snails and insects. Additionally, these birds are known for collecting sap from tree barks from openings left behind by sapsuckers.
Migration
Little to no migration is part of Cardinal’s traits because their habitation zones provide them with much comfort all year round. Blue Jays have a tendency to move south in flocks, especially the ones living in the far north. The reason for this is yet to be confirmed, but experts suggest that it’s due to the weather and abundance of food sources.
Source: @pippakerrphotography
Beak
As I hinted in the identification section, Blue Jays have a more defined pair of beaks as opposed to Cardinals. In terms of colorization, Cardinals have red bills while Blue Jays carry blackish-blue ones. The size difference is an outcome of century-long evolution and dietary practice.
Sexual Dimorphism
The term sexual dimorphism suggests there’s a difference in physicality between the two sexes in one species. Blue Jays show no sign of it and the male along with the female look almost identical in shape and tone.
On the contrary, Cardinals carry sexual dimorphism to a great extent, starting off with the color variation. Female birds are mostly reddish-olive with recurrence of grays. Also, the crest on the male is larger than the one on females.
Reproduction
Cardinals aren’t exactly monogamous in terms of partner selection, but they tend to stick together for an entire year to the very least. There are cases of ‘divorces’ that can see a relationship end for good. Mating rituals often see male birds feeding the female with its beak to solidify the partnership.
Blue Jays here are monogamous and prefer to stick together until one of the birds from the pair dies. Usually April is the month with the highest rate of reproduction since it prepares the juvenile to come of age before winter and set apart from its parents.
Habitat
If you’re looking forward to observing Cardinals in their natural habitats, you’ll need to seek in diverse locations within the given range. Woodlands as well as shrublands are among their favorites, while wetlands too are part of their forte. Rural population of Cardinals even reside in gardens if it fits their criteria and has food sources nearby.
The nesting and perching grounds for Blue Jays are much more versatile. If generalized, their preferred territories should contain woods and trees like spruce, pine or birch. These birds can even adapt around human settlements like gardens. Coping with deforestation is doable for the species if humans allow them nesting zones nearby.
Source: @copperrange
Nesting
Nests for Blue Jays are shaped like a cup. These are usually crafted with plant materials like twigs, leaves or roots. These scavengers even go to the extent of attaching other materials like clothes and mud to solidify the structure for the incubation. In rural regions, jaybirds have shown instances of nesting inside mailboxes.
Although Cardinal nests are also built with twigs into a cup-shape, it has four layers inside the home. These twigs are bent by the female bird and provided by the male. These are placed inside shrubs, usually out of sight and somewhat high up from the ground to steer clear from predators.
Source: @jessicakirste
Cultural References
When it comes to US culture, Cardinals represent a lot of teams that are into athletics and professional sports. Apart from being a mascot for numerous groups, this species is the state bird for seven US States.
Blue Jay references are centered mostly around Canadian athletic teams and sport groups. Also, Prince Edward Island in Canada upholds the species as their provincial bird. In other cases, African-American community folklore interpret Blue Jays from a metaphysical point of view.
Pet Bird
Back in the day, Cardinals were commonly sold as pet birds due to their dazzling red feathers and soothing singing abilities. However, it was deemed illegal with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, thus releasing the species from confinement of cages. Blue Jays don’t have such noticeable records of being prized as pet birds.
Vocalization
Much like Catbirds & Mockingbirds, Blue Jay and Cardinals as well are songbirds. Blue Jays are the smart ones in this case due to their ability for mimicking other species in their territory.
They can easily master human narration or even hawk callings to allure these predators and drive them away from jaybird territories. Additionally, Blue Jays are very noisy at an aggressive level – a representation of their bold nature.
Although Cardinal sounds for both sexes sound similar, there exists variances according to experts. Their callings are usually repetitive whistles sounding like “cheeeer-a-dote, cheeer-a-dote-dote-dote”.
Let’s now take a listen to both of their vocal noises to mark their differences out in nature.
Blue Jay Sound
Cardinal Sound
In What Ways are Blue Jay & Cardinals Similar?
Even if it’s hard to wrap your head around the fact that Cardinals and Blue Jays are similar in quite a few ways, believe it! If not, let me change your mind in this section!
Crest
Out of all the birds who flaunt crowns on top of their heads, Cardinals & Blue Jays are part of that elite group. Cardinal’s crest is more visible – shaped like a mohawk and colored in a punchy red. Blue Jay’s crown on the other hand is quite short, leaned toward the back and stands up when the bird is angry. It’s mostly colored in a darker shade of blue with little saturation.
Source: @californiacaptured
Territorial Trait
Both of these birds in question are highly territorial, Blue Jays are probably a degree higher than Cardinals in this regard. Jaybirds tend to heist other bird homes and steal eggs or younglings. Also, driving birds away from their collected food to make it easy still is a common practice for the species.
Cardinal’s territoriality is witnessed mostly with other birds of the similar species – a conflict between male birds. It whistles and drives away to keep his partner as well as nest safe and secure. It gets so riled up in this trait that this bird even ends up attacking its own reflection.
Songbird
Despite the discrepancy in vocalization, we must conform to the fact that these two birds are songbirds of their own accord. They are loud, vocalize freely in their territory and have particular vocabularies for different circumstances. However, Blue Jays use their callings like songs as opposed to most other songbirds
FAQ
We’ve now reached the FAQ section of this article where I’ll be elucidating on some of the facts related to these two species that bird lovers often search for online.
Q: Are Blue Jays and Cardinals related?
Ans: The only relation between Blue Jay and Cardinals, genealogically speaking, is their shared order of Passeriformes (passerines). Other similarities are bound to occur due to this, like the ones previously mentioned in the article, but it doesn’t imply they’re closely related in any way.
Q: Why do Blue Jays and Cardinals fight?
Ans: Since both of these birds are territorial, their fights have more to do with this trait with a seasoning of their innate aggressive tendencies. One might try to shove the other species out of their zone to make sure that their food sources aren’t shared in any way.
Q: Can a Cardinal have a baby with a Blue Jay?
Ans: It’s impossible for one species to conceive babies with another because of the mismatch at DNA level. Cardinal and Blue Jays are as far from one another as a cat is from a dog. So the answer is a BIG NO, a Cardinal can not have a baby with a Blue Jay.
Thoughts
Let me share some of my own thoughts and opinions on the debate we’ve just had on Blue Jay vs Cardinal.
These birds are quite similar if seen from a broader spectrum: quarrelsome, loud, songbirds and shared distribution range – which tells you a lot why this argument was deemed necessary in the first place.
Visual differences are easy to catch and can be an accessible point for teaching children basic bird variances and arouse their interest in avian-kinds.
However, no matter how beautiful each of them look, it’s unethical and even criminal at certain places to cage or pet them.
I hope your heart is in the right place, which is to learn about these birds and ensure their safety around your local areas because they might just visit your backyard someday!
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- Bluebird vs Blue Jay – Differences And Similarities
Audio Credits: wikimedia
