Boredom-busting backyard bird feeders have boosted the already growing cardinal population in Ottawa during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to local birders.
Local bird counts show the population of northern cardinals — or in unimaginative Latin nomenclature, Cardinalis cardinalis — was already rising before the pandemic hit.
Then isolated families began sprucing up their backyards for themselves and for hungry birds looking for an easy meal.
“More people were feeding birds last winter,” said Ottawa naturalist Michael Runtz. “Costco was being sold out of sunflower seeds regularly, and that’s unusual.
“If the females are well-fed, they produce more eggs and … more young.”