Manu Minute: The Cardinal Cousins

By Patrick Hart,

Ann Tanimoto-Johnson, Savannah Harriman-Pote

Published August 26, 2021 at 11:04 AM HST

Ways To Subscribe

1 of 3 — An adult red-crested cardinal.

Red-crested cardinals and yellow-billed cardinals look almost identical at first glance. Males and females of both species have red heads, blackish backs and bright white breasts, almost like they’re wearing tuxedos. Their common names provide a hint as to where they differ. Red-crested cardinals, as seen above, have larger red crests on their heads.

Ann Tanimoto-Johnson / HPR

2 of 3 — A yellow-billed cardinal.

Yellow-billed cardinals have, you guessed it, bright yellow-orange bills and feet.

Ann Tanimoto-Johnson / HPR

3 of 3 — An adult yellow-billed cardinal (left) with a juvenile (right).

Juveniles of both species have brown, rather than red, heads.

Ann Tanimoto-Johnson

We've got not one, but two cardinals for you today.

And guess what, they're not even real cardinals.

Despite their names, the red-crested cardinal and the yellow-billed cardinal are actually tanagers, just like our old friend, the saffron finch.

The descriptors in their name are quite accurate, however, and they hold the key to distinguishing these two birds from one another.

Here's another helpful hint for identification. The red-crested cardinal is found on all of the main Hawaiian islands except the Big Island, whereas the yellow-billed cardinal is found only on the Big Island.

Both birds are native to South America. In Hawaiʻi, they prefer lower elevation areas, which they can inhabit without worry due to their resistance to avian malaria.

Here's the call of a red-crested cardinal.

Spectrogram video of the song of a red-crested cardinal

And here's the call of a yellow-billed cardinal.

Spectrogram video of the song of a yellow-billed cardinal

Can you tell the difference?

Audio credit: Doug Pratt/Macaulay Library at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (ML5004)
Audio credit: Natxo Areta/Macaulay Library at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (ML216460)