Cardinals are beautiful. The males are such a brilliant red. And they have incredibly loud calls in mating season.
When I lived in Indiana, we had bluejays. They're also attractive, but as you say, aggressive and combative. We also had some migratory species. One morning my mother woke me at dawn to see a Great Blue Heron taking a rest on the lawn. The only time we ever saw one. It was impressive.
Which reminds me. Naturally we also get Canada geese, honking and pooping all over the place. Some have made a permanent home here in local ponds. Lazy. And of course robins, which people tend to ignore because they're so common. Years ago, someone on Pet of the Day wrote about her pet robin. She took it in when it was an abandoned baby, thinking it'd fly away when it grew up. But it didn't. It was like any other pet bird. Liked to sit on her shoulder and be petted.