In Sept. 2005 we moved into the home we now live in. We live in the corporation limits, but a farmers corn field is behind the lot our home sits on. The resident male cardinal had a yellow/orange feather in his left wing. I thought that this would be a red feather when he went through the molt. However it never changed. He is still here visiting my feeders everyday. Knowing that this individual bird has been around here at least nine years had me researching life expectancy for Northern Cardinals. A website gave me a 15-20 year life span. It would be interesting to know what percentage of birds survive predation and disease to die from old age. The severe weather we are now having brings large numbers of Cardinals to my feeders. The resident male would not tolerate this during nesting season. The question I keep rolling around, is that because they are just trying to survive the weather conditions or does the effect of short daylight hours on their hormonal system make them defend their territory less vigorously? Tom Guisinger Lancaster, Oh ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]