Most ornithologists believe cardinals mate for like. Mates are chosen for their breeding site but it is known that the cardinal with the best song and one that is a great looking beautiful cardinal is likely to be bonded up first. Female cardinals begin building their nests in early April with a little help from the males, usually raising two to three broods. Their nests are located between three to twenty feet about the ground in dense thickets, spruce and deciduous small trees and thick shrubbery. You will find the nests mostly in the lower ten feet.
Cardinals never nest in nest boxes.
Usually it takes from three to nine days to build their loose cup-like nest. After approximately a six day rest, egg laying begins. The eggs are covered in spots, dots, and blotches of grays, browns and purples with most of the color at the large end of the egg. They are on inch in length and weigh about 8.6 grams. Incubations starts after the last egg of the clutch is laid and hatch in twelve to thirteen days.