I agree that it might seem more logical to count two cardinals if you  
see first the female and later the male, but the Project Feederwatch  
instructions are very clear:  count the number of individuals in view  
at one time

The information from this vast citizen science project is reliable  
only if every participant is following the same guidelines for  
counting. The guidelines aren’t the same as for e-bird, so people who  
are contributing to both (and I think everyone should!) should be  
aware of the differences.

Maeve Kim
Jericho Center