Funny little birds, cardinals. You’d think they wouldn’t work. Their range includes very cold climates but they don’t migrate. They nest in bushes a few feet off the ground, not that inaccessible. They’re one of few songbird species where both males and females sing, and females will sometimes sing on the nest. The females are actually quite well camouflaged against leaf litter, but they’re nearly never far from their bright retina-searingly red mates; if you spot a red cardinal there’s almost always a brown one nearby unless she’s sitting on eggs. And they spend most of their waking lives making little ping noises at each other.

And yet they haven’t all been eaten yet.