Cardinal "attack"

Funny episode that left us with many photos. After a day of biking in Everglades National Park, we stopped for lunch in the picnic area of Long Pine Key. A male northern cardinal appeared from nowhere and took possession of our pickup truck.

Red northern cardinal on a pickup truck mirror, Everglades National Park, Florida - Photo: Still Gravity.
The bad-tempered bird - License our images here.        

This red male - the females are light brown - had a very bad temper. It fought its own reflection on the mirror and the window glass of the truck. The cardinal moved from one to the other as if fighting two birds. 

Cardinals defend their nesting area from intruders, so this is a normal response. These birds don't pass the "mirror test" - the "mirror self-recognition test" created by psychologist Gordon Gallup Jr in the 1970s. They don't have self-awareness and see the reflection as another bird.

Red cardinal fighting its reflection on the truck in Everglades National Park, Florida - Photo: Still Gravity.
More pictures of our brave cardinal. 

Later, the angry bird went for the bikes. What a tiny bully trying to kick us out from its forested kingdom.

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