Gallery: The Winter Warmth of the Northern Cardinal

From the Winter 2025 issue of Living Bird magazine. Subscribe now.

When 2024–25 Bartels Science Illustrator Lauren Richelieu was asked to create art for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s holiday card, her mind went immediately to the Northern Cardinal. The Maine-born-and-raised artist says that to her, the cardinal is a “classic winter bird” that symbolizes “warmth, hope, and resilience” during a season in the North that can be quite barren. “Through this work, I strove to capture the essence of my chosen subject, inviting others to understand the beauty of the Northern Cardinal,” she says, “and view them as a symbol of nature’s enduring spirit and quiet elegance, even in the depths of winter.”