The female cardinal is light brownish-gray but the male is dark red. The cardinal sometimes nests in the state tree, the Sugar Maple. Some cardinals live in the same place for their whole life. The female cardinal sings as well as the male cardinal.
Cardinals like to nest in thick tangled bushes near the edges of woods.
After a a nest is built of twigs and small roots and lined with grass, the female lays three or four eggs which are pale blue or gray and spotted.