Illinois State Bird Cardinal TeeIllinois State Bird Cardinal Tee Illinois knows what it's doing with the Northern Cardinal as its state bird. Few birds earn their keep at the feeder the way a male cardinal does that concentrated red in the gray middle of an Illinois winter is a small daily miracle that never really gets old. Cardinals are year round residents across all of Illinois, from Chicago backyards to rural downstate feeders, singing their loud, whistled songs earlier in the