Female pyrrhuloxia in Texas, USA 16 Feb 2024

Female pyrrhuloxia in Texas, USA

In today"s image is a pyrrhuloxia—also known as the desert cardinal—a songbird that lives in the deserts of northern Mexico and the American Southwest. The female cardinal, while lacking the flamboyant colouration of her male counterpart, possesses a unique charm in her own right. While she shares the distinctive crest and red bill with the male, her plumage is a more subdued yellowish, cinnamon-brown, adorned only with subtle touches of red. Unlike females in many bird species, the female cardinal is an accomplished vocalist, harmonising with the melodies of the male.

© outtakes/Getty Images

palette

Today in History

Why is this cliffside ablaze?
16 Feb 2025Happy World Whale Day!

More Desktop Wallpapers:

1 Apr 2025Tree frog
22 Feb 2025Gateway Arch in St Louis, Missouri, United States
16 Sep 2025Nighttime view over the Gulf Coast
Warm light through an ancient forest
The world’s greatest oasis?
Sep 4, 2023Labor Day
10 Nov 2025Black-tailed prairie dogs, Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA
29 Sep 2024West Cornwall Covered Bridge, Connecticut, USA
The ‘eighth wonder’?
26 Jan 2025European beech forest, Belgium
10 Oct 2025Fiji Day
13 Oct 2023Vieste, Apulia, Italy
A prehistoric pavement
26 Jan 2026Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria, Germany
24 Sep 2023World Rivers Day
22 Jun 2025World Rainforest Day
22 Jan 2025Ad-Deir, Petra, Jordan
20 Jan 2025Dunes at White Sands National Park, New Mexico, United States
19 Nov 2025Hungarian Parliament Building, Budapest, Hungary
26 Jul 2025International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem
25 Mar 2024Happy Holi!
15 Jul 2024Marine Day, Japan
28 Dec 2025Black-and-white ruffed lemur in Madagascar
7 May 2024A duckling swimming in a water meadow, Suffolk, England
18 May 2024International Museum Day
The envy of postcards and snowglobes
18 Feb 2025The Great Blue Hole, Belize
Man-made, meandering Lake Powell
4 Dec 2025International Cheetah Day
Don’t look down!