2795) The Northern Cardinal, Canada: "Mother Nature Coin Series": A $20 (Twenty Dollars) Silver Coin issued by the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) depicting this mid-sized songbird: Date of Coin issue: 15.05.2023:
Beginning with the Blue Jay (2021) and the Cedar Waxwing (2022), the "Mother Nature Coin Series" issued by the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) continues with the Northern Cardinal in 2023:
The Header/Banner showcases the Reverse of the Silver, partially coloured coin against a background representation of the Northern Cardinal in a snow-covered landscape.
About the Northern Cardinal ("Cardinalis cardinalis"):
The Northern Cardinal is one of three birds in the genus Cardinalis and is included in the family Cardinalidae, which is made up of passerine birds found in North and South America. It is also known colloquially as the "redbird", "common cardinal", "red cardinal", or "cardinal" (which was its name prior to 1985).
Easily recognised by its pointed crest, the cardinal’s bright red plumage adds a welcome splash of colour to our landscapes in any season.
It was one of the many species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
It is found in Southeastern Canada, through the Eastern United States from Maine to Minnesota to Texas, New Mexico, Southern Arizona, Southern California, and South through Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala.
It is also an introduced species in a few locations such as Bermuda and Hawaii. Its habitat includes woodlands, gardens, shrublands, and wetlands.
The Northern Cardinal is a mid-sized songbird with a body length of 21 to 23 cm (8.3 to 9.1 in).
It has a distinctive crest on the head and a mask on the face which is black in the male and gray in the female.
The male is a vibrant red, while the female is a reddish olive colour.
The male is rather territorial, marking out his territory with song - they can mistake their reflection for a possible intruder and may spend hours fighting this imagined threat.
During courtship, the male feeds seed to the female beak-to-beak.
A clutch of three to four eggs is laid, and two to four clutches are produced each year.
It was once prized as a pet, but its sale as a cage bird was banned in the United States by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.
The Northern Cardinal is a mid-sized songbird. Both sexes sing clear, whistled song patterns, which are repeated several times, then varied.
Some common phrases are described as "cheeeer-a-dote, cheeer-a-dote-dote-dote", "purdy, purdy, purdy...whoit, whoit, whoit, whoit", "what-cheer, what-cheer... wheet, wheet, wheet, wheet" and "cheer, cheer, cheer, what, what, what, what".
The Northern Cardinal is mainly granivorous, but also feeds on insects and fruit.
The diet of the northern cardinal consists mainly (up to 90%) of weed seeds, grains, and fruits. It is a ground feeder and finds food while hopping on the ground through trees or shrubbery.
It also feeds on snails and insects, including beetles, cicadas, and grasshoppers - it feeds its young almost exclusively on insects. Other common items include corn (maize) and oats, sunflower seeds, the blossoms and bark of elm trees, and drinks of maple sap from holes made by sapsuckers.
Listed as of "Least Concern" on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List:
It is listed as a species of least concern by the IUCN Red List, with an estimated global range of 5,800,000 km2 (2,200,000 sq mi) and a global population of some 100 million indivduals.
Populations appear to remain stable and not threatened to reach the threshold of inclusion as a threatened species, which requires a decline of more than 30% in ten years or three generations.
It was once prized as a pet due to its bright color and distinctive song.
It is also protected by the Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds in Canada. It is illegal to take, kill, or possess Northern Cardinals, and violation of the law is punishable by a fine and imprisonment of up to six months.
Canada’s Northern Cardinal population is steadily increasing thanks to backyard feeders (cardinals love sunflower seeds). The year-round resident was largely limited to southeastern regions of Canada but recently, it has been spotted as far west as Manitoba and east in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Coin:
On the selectively coloured Reverse of the $20 (Twenty Dollars) Silver Coin is featured a tranquil winter scene after snowfall. A snow-blanketed house on a hill appears in the engraved background. A snow covered landscape is seen with some winter-hardy plant species, transforming this design into a celebration of Mother Nature’s contrasting colours.
In the foreground, a bright red northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is perched on a bittersweet (Celastrus candens) branch in a spruce tree.
The inscriptions are - "2023" (at right - the year of issue) and "CANADA" (at the bottom - the issuing country).
On the Obverse of the $20 (Twenty Dollars) Silver Coin is seen the memorial effigy of Late Queen Elizabeth II facing right. The inscriptions read on the periphery - 'ELIZABETH II. D. G. REGINA. 20 DOLLARS". At centre left is depicted the years of the Queen's reign - "1952-2022" and the four dots represent her four effigies on Canadian Cons.
The specifications of this Silver Coin are:
Country: Canada; Denomination/Face value: $20 (Twenty Dollars); Date/Year of Coin issue: 15.05.2023; Coin Series Theme: "Mother Nature Coin Series": Coin Theme: "Red Cardinal"; Metal Composition: .9999 Fineness Silver (Ag); Weight: 31.39 grams or 1.0 Oz; Diameter/Size: 38.00 mm; Coin Quality: Proof (P) with selective colour; Edge: Serrated; Mint: Royal Canadian Mint (RCM); Mintage: 7,500 pieces; Designers: Tony Bianco (reverse), Susanna Blunt (obverse).
- Includes serialized certificate. The Royal Canadian Mint certifies all of its collector coins.
- The Coin is encapsulated and presented in a Royal Canadian Mint-branded clamshell with a black beauty box.
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Santosh Khanna has commented:
ReplyDelete"A VERY interesting post. Thanks for sharing this informative article."
Thank you so much, Khanna sahab.
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