Birdfinding.info ⇒ Common and conspicuous in the core of its range, especially in the chaco and brushlands of Rio Grande do Sul, Uruguay and northeastern Argentina. In Buenos Aires it can always be found at the Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve. In Hawaii it is common to abundant throughout Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, and Maui.
Red-crested Cardinal
Paroaria coronata
South-central South America; introduced to Hawaii.
Inhabits chaco and other brushy woodlands and savannas of Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. From central Beni, southern Mato Grosso, and western Paraná south to northern Neuquén and southern Buenos Aires Province.
There are apparently introduced populations around several South American cities, including Curitiba, Quito, Lima, Puerto Madryn, São Paulo, and Trelew.
Introduced populations are well established on all the main islands Hawaii, except the Big Island—where the introduced Yellow-billed Cardinal replaces it, although a few wanderers from Maui appear from time to time.
Additional introduced populations were tenuously established on Honshu and Puerto Rico, but have vanished.
Identification
A typical Paroaria cardinal, with slaty-gray upperparts, snow-white underparts, glowing ruby-red head, crest, and bib, and nearly complete white collar. Named for its most diagnostic feature: a tall, peaked crest which differentiates it from similar species.
The bill is mostly pale, whitish-gray, with a dark-gray ridge and tip, and the legs are dark-gray.
Red-crested Cardinal. (Kapiolani Park, Honolulu, Hawaii; December 21, 2017.) © Jim Merritt
Red-crested Cardinal. (Poipu Cliffs, Kauai, Hawaii; March 23, 2018.) © Russ Morgan
Red-crested Cardinal. (Colonia Carlos Pelegrini, Corrientes, Argentina; August 15, 2012.) © Marco Valentini
Red-crested Cardinal. (Kuli’ou’ou Valley Trail, Oahu, Hawaii; December 9, 2013.) © Michael Walther
Red-crested Cardinal. (Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii; December 13, 2008.) © Marie O’Shaughnessy
Red-crested Cardinal. (Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii; December 13, 2008.) © Marie O’Shaughnessy
Red-crested Cardinal. (Pousada Aguape, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil; December 29, 2019.) © Guido Bennen
Red-crested Cardinal. (Anni Beach, Kauai, Hawaii; April 5, 2021.) © Isaac Sanchez
Red-crested Cardinal. (Mahukona Beach Park, Big Island, Hawaii; February 11, 2018.) © Don Coons
Red-crested Cardinal. (Poipu Beach Park, Kauai, Hawaii; February 26, 2020.) © Donna Pomeroy
Red-crested Cardinal. (Poipu Cliffs, Kauai, Hawaii; March 23, 2018.) © Russ Morgan
Red-crested Cardinal. (Kawainui Park, Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii; January 13, 2019.) © Sharif Uddin
Red-crested Cardinal. (Princeville, Kauai, Hawaii; March 7, 2016.) © Estela Quintero-Weldon
Red-crested Cardinal. (Kualoa Regional Park, Waikane, Oahu, Hawaii; January 11, 2020.) © Julie Davis
Red-crested Cardinal. (Kawaiele State Waterbird Sanctuary, Kauai, Hawaii; February 29, 2020.) © Donna Pomeroy
Immatures resemble adults, except that the red head, crest, and bib are pale-brown or cinnamon, and the bill is all-gray.
Red-crested Cardinal, immature. (Pousada Aguape, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil; December 29, 2019.) © Guido Bennen
Red-crested Cardinal, immature. (Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve, Buenos Aires, Argentina; January 7, 2016.) © Steve Kelling
Red-crested Cardinal, immature. (Princeville, Kauai, Hawaii; December 9, 2018.) © Charles Hundertmark
Red-crested Cardinal, immature. (Ka’anapali, Maui, Hawaii; October 9, 2010.) © Marvin Hyett
Red-crested Cardinal, immature beginning molt into adult plumage. (Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve, Buenos Aires, Argentina; January 8, 2021.) © Iván Eroles
Red-crested Cardinal, subadult. (Hokuala Golf Course, Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii; February 29, 2020.) © Donna Pomeroy
Cf. Red-cowled Cardinal. Red-crested and Red-cowled Cardinals are closely related and very similar in plumage. They usually would not overlap geographically, but introductions have brought them together in southeastern Brazil.
The main differences are that Red-crested has a tall, peaked crest and mostly uniform gray upperparts, whereas Red-cowled has a low, rounded crest and mixed gray and black upperparts. Red-cowled also has a somewhat thicker bill that is almost perfectly bicolored (all-dark upper mandible and all-pale lower), whereas Red-crested’s bill is mostly pale with a dark ridge.
Notes
Monotypic species.
References
BirdLife International. 2018. Paroaria coronata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T22721582A132144578. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22721582A132144578.en. (Accessed May 12, 2021.)
Brazil, M. 2009. Birds of East Asia. Princeton University Press.
de la Peña, M.R., and M. Rumboll. 1998. Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica. Princeton University Press.
eBird. 2021. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed May 12, 2021.)
Hawaii Audubon Society. 2005. Hawaii’s Birds (Sixth Edition). Island Heritage Publishing, Waipahu, Hawaii.
Kirwan, G.M., A. Levesque, M. Oberle, and C.J. Sharpe. 2019. Birds of the West Indies. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
Pratt, H.D., P.L. Bruner, and D.G. Berrett. 1987. A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific. Princeton University Press.
Pyle, R.L., and P. Pyle. 2017. The Birds of the Hawaiian Islands: Occurrence, History, Distribution, and Status. Version 2 (January 1, 2017). http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/birds/rlp-monograph/. B.P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Raine, H., and A.F. Raine. 2020. ABA Field Guide to the Birds of Hawai’i. Scott & Nix, Inc., New York.
Ridgely, R.S., and G. Tudor. 2009. Field Guide to the Songbirds of South America: The Passerines. University of Texas Press.
Ridgely, R.S., and G. Tudor. 1989. The Birds of South America, Volume I: The Oscine Passerines. University of Texas Press.
van Perlo, B. 2009. A Field Guide to the Birds of Brazil. Oxford University Press.
Wikiaves. 2021. Cardeal, https://www.wikiaves.com.br/wiki/cardeal. (Accessed May 12, 2021.)
Xeno-Canto. 2021. Red-crested Cardinal – Paroaria coronata. https://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Paroaria-coronata. (Accessed May 12, 2021.)