The Best Bird Feeders for Cardinals
Cardinals are beautiful birds, and their songs make them worth watching. Their stunning plumage can add new colours and hues to your garden, which is why many people want to attract them to their gardens.
The good thing is that both the experienced and the novice birders can attract these lovely birds through baths, nesting areas, and the right feeders.
Why Everyone Loves Cardinals
They have brilliant red plumages that are easy to spot and recognise. Even the female species, which are more reserved, can showcase their fawn-coloured and lovely red highlights through their feathers.
In the winter, these birds don’t typically migrate to other areas, so cardinals are always considered welcome guests the whole year-round. They can be stunning decorations on bare trees in winter since their colours are brilliant, and their beautiful voices are still music to one’s ears. If you want to know more about attracting them, here are some tips for you.
How to Get Started Attracting the Birds
Bird feeders
The medium-sized birds, such as cardinals, need bird feeders where they can comfortably eat, sit, and perch. Look for standard tubes that are sturdy. You need heavy-duty poles because the feeders can be very heavy, especially if they are full of seeds.
These birds’ bills are thick, which makes larger seeds such as safflower or black oil sunflower varieties perfect for them. If you want to give them something different, you can try fresh berries, apple chunks, bread crumbles, cracked corns, or suet shreds.
Many people opt to go with wide and large feeders where there are plenty of spaces for the cardinals to perch. The smaller and narrower ones are not suitable for them because they won’t feed well. You can check resources for the top feeders available for more designs and capacities.
Other factors that you need to consider when looking for the feeders are the following:
- Waterproof and weatherproof
- Metal designs to squirrel or chipmunk-proof your feeder
- Large capacity so there’s no need for constant refills
- Simple to use
- Have hanging options
- Easy to clean and maintain
Water
The Northern cardinals enjoy birdbaths for drinking and washing. Since they are songbirds that are large in size, you need a slightly deeper depth for the bird bath, which is about three inches. You may want to add drippers to attract the birds to the bath further. They will welcome this water source and stay for a few days in full view of your home.
Since the cardinals tend to go farther north during the winter season, a heated bath can be advantageous for them. Placing the baths on the ground can also be a good idea since most of them like to forage on land for a quick drink or bath.
Providing shelter
Even if the birds are known to have colourful feathers, they still prefer to hide and live in secluded areas. They are discreet to avoid predators preying on them. Most of the shrubs or dense thickets can be a good cover for them to feel more secure and safe.
These species mostly prefer shelter in blueberry, mulberry, and sumac since these are all excellent food sources. You can try to design a cardinal-friendly landscape and provide various layers of bush covers that reach 20 feet. Shrubs and evergreen trees are ideal and comfortable shelter in the winter months, so you are lucky if you have them.
Nesting sites
The birds want to have a safe area where they can lay eggs and nest. They prefer clematis, grapevines, and hawthorns since these plants are dense. You can help them with the nesting materials by providing pine needles, small twigs, and grass clippings. Most of them are not comfortable living in birdhouses and want to use the dense natural covers, so you may want to make an effort to make their space safe to attract other families.
Other Tips to Follow
Know their preferred food
Their beaks are very powerful compared to other backyard bird species. It’s easy to imagine how they can crack open a seed with ease and agility.
Their food choices can consist of black oil sunflower and a mix of other seed varieties. These are often inexpensive, and you can get ones that are sold from your local pet shop. You can also buy a bag of safflower seeds that can last until winter.
Safflower seed is the white variety that most squirrels often ignore. You can be guaranteed that the cardinals will be feasting on them each time they decide to visit your backyard.
Put their food out the night before
Most cardinals will visit your place in the early hours of the morning, so make sure that you won’t have to dash out to them when they do. They get the bulk of their daily nutrition when starting their day. When you put the seeds out the night before, you increase your chances of attracting them and not scaring them because of the extra fuss that you may make.
Put bird feeders in different locations in your garden. If the other one is already filled with birds, they can still go to other areas where they will feel more comfortable. The more food sources there are, the more attractive your garden is to the cardinals.
Leave the open and high branches of trees in your garden alone. Don’t cut them down as they can serve as perches for singing cardinals. You can guarantee hearing their sweet songs in early summer, especially if the breeding season begins early.
Let the cardinals claim their territories in your backyard so that they can safely look for other mates. When you meet almost all of their needs, you can rest assured that they will stay longer. The freshest water, abundant food, and secure nests can make them stay whole year-round.
This is a collaborative post.
