Cardinals are beautiful red songbirds that can add color and vitality to any backyard. With their bright red plumage, dashing crest, and sweet songs, cardinals are a joy to watch. Attracting cardinals to your yard takes some planning and effort, but the payoff of seeing these gorgeous birds regularly is well worth it. Here are the top tips for successfully attracting cardinals to your backyard.
Provide Food Cardinals Like
Food is one of the most important elements for attracting cardinals. Cardinals mainly eat seeds, fruits, and insects. Having feeders stocked with preferred foods will encourage cardinals to visit your yard.
Offer High-Energy Seed Mixes
Cardinals prefer mixes with sunflower seeds, safflower seeds, cracked corn, millet, and peanuts. Buy a high-quality cardinal seed blend or make your own by mixing unsalted sunflower chips, safflower seeds, cracked corn, millet, and raw peanuts.
Avoid mixes with filler seeds like wheat, oats, and milo that cardinals don’t eat. Also skip seed mixes with artificial colors and flavors. Fill feeders daily and clean them regularly to prevent mold.
Include Fruit and Berries
Cardinals eat various fruits and berries. They love chopped apples, grapes, raisins, currants, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and bananas. You can offer fruit in platform feeders, hopper feeders, or mesh fruit feeders.
Fruits are especially important in winter when natural food sources are scarce. Dried fruits like raisins, currants, cranberries, and cherries are useful when fresh fruit is limited.
Set Up Suet Feeders
Suet is nutritionally dense, high-calorie bird food made from rendered beef fat. It provides cardinals with energy and nutrition during winter months. Buy insect suet cakes made with bird seed, nuts, dried fruit, and insects or make your own custom suet recipes.
Hang suet feeders on trees, posts, or bird feeder poles. Avoid flimsy plastic suet feeders which squirrels can destroy. Opt for metal mesh suet holders instead. Offer suet year-round, but especially in fall and winter.
Supply Mealworms
Cardinals relish live and dried mealworms. You can buy mealworms at pet stores or online. Serve them in platform feeders, hopper feeders, or screened mesh feeders made for live mealworms.
Dried mealworms are easier to handle than live. Soak dried mealworms in water to rehydrate before serving. Offer mealworms year-round as a natural source of protein.
Provide Water Sources
Water is essential for cardinals’ bathing, drinking, and preening needs. Install a few water features to attract cardinals:
Invest in a Birdbath
A ground-level birdbath with fresh, clean water will entice cardinals to your yard. Add a mister or dripper to provide drinking water. Place your birdbath in a secluded, sheltered spot near trees or shrubs. Cardinals like shallow birdbaths no deeper than 2 inches.
Keep birdbaths clean by scrubbing weekly and refilling with fresh water daily. In winter, use a birdbath heater or deicer to prevent freezing.
Install a Small Pond
A small backyard pond with a gradually sloping shoreline provides cardinals with a safe water source. Ensure adequate water circulation and filtration. Include partially submerged rocks or stones for cardinals to stand on when drinking or bathing.
Provide Fruit With High Moisture Content
Fruits like apples, grapes, watermelon, strawberries, and oranges have high water content. Offer fresh, diced fruit in feeders to supplement cardinals’ hydration. Change fruit daily to prevent spoilage.
Offer Shelter and Roosting Spots
Cardinals appreciate spots to take cover from bad weather and predators. Trees, shrubs, brush piles, and nesting boxes provide shelter.
Landscape With Dense Shrubs and Trees
Plant native conifers like junipers, pines, spruces, and firs that offer year-round shelter from wind and snow. Shrubs like lilacs, dogwoods, and hollies provide cover and nesting spots. Avoid trimming bushes and branches too severely.
Leave Leaf Litter and Brush Piles
Leaving fallen leaves, twigs, and brush provides materials for cardinals to build nests. Pile up pruned branches and twigs to create shelter. Just ensure good airflow and drainage to prevent mold.
Put Up Nesting Boxes
Install nest boxes specifically made for cardinals. Place boxes 8-10 feet off the ground attached to tree trunks or sturdy poles. Use boxes with 1 1⁄2 inch diameter entrance holes and ventilation holes for airflow. Clean boxes after each nesting season.
Provide Roosting Poles
Add tall tree branches, wooden dowels, or shepherd hooks near feeders to provide night roosting spots. Cardinals prefer roosting sites 6-15 feet off the ground. Place multiple roosting poles around your yard so more birds can gather.
Choose the Right Feeder Location
Where you place feeders and how you configure them will impact your success in attracting cardinals:
Set Up Feeders Near Trees and Bushes
Cardinals feel safest feeding next to trees, shrubs, and brush piles where they have quick escape routes from predators. Avoid leaving feeders exposed in wide open lawns.
Elevate Feeders to Provide Safety
Hang or pole-mount feeders at least 5 feet off the ground to help cardinals spot predators. Elevated feeders also discourage bigger bullies like grackles and jays. Place feeders near trees so cardinals can flee quickly.
Separate Feeder Types
Group together similar feeders rather than mixing multiple styles in one spot. For instance, have a fruit feeder area, a suet feeder zone, and a separate hopper feeder station. This reduces squabbles between aggressive and timid birds.
Use Multiple Smaller Feeders
Having several smaller feeders reduces competition and allows more cardinals to eat at once. Use many small platform, hopper, and tube feeders instead of a few oversized ones. Space feeders at least 10 feet apart to minimize territorial disputes.
Maintain Clear Lines of Sight
Avoid overcrowding feeders or placing feeders right next to shrubs or fences. Cardinals like being able to see clearly in all directions as they eat in case danger approaches.
Manage Pests and Predators
Cardinals won’t linger long in a yard overrun by predators. Taking precautions will make your yard safer and more attractive.
Deter Squirrels
Squirrels love cardinal-favored foods like sunflower seeds and suet. Use weight-sensitive or baffle-guarded feeders that shut when squirrels try to access them. Also install feeders with weight limits or on poles with squirrel excluder disks.
Install Nest Boxes for Hawks and Owls
Raptors help control rodents and scare off peskier birds. Providing nest boxes may encourage resident hawks or owls that will deter grackles, crows, and jays.
Use Fencing
Install a partial fence or feeder poles with integrated “squirrel guard” barriers. Just ensure fencing doesn’t obstruct cardinals’ entrance paths or sight lines.
Trim Back Vegetation
Prune back bushes and branches around feeders to reduce sneaky cat ambush spots. But leave some lower cover for quick escape routes.
Scare or Remove Aggressive Birds
If grackles, crows, or starlings get aggressive, try harmless strategies like hanging CDs or taping reflective strips near feeders to startle them. As a last resort, stop feeding for a week so bullies disperse.
Use Sounds and Visuals to Attract Cardinals
Incorporating sounds and visuals that appeal to cardinals can boost your results:
Play Cardinal Calls and Chirps
You can buy recordings of cardinal chips, chirps, and calls or download them online for free. Play them softly from hidden speakers in trees near your feeders. This works best in spring during mating season.
Add Colorful Decorations
Cardinals are drawn to the color red. Add vibrant red objects like glass bird ornaments, ceramic pieces, ribbons, and even red feeders or poles around your yard. Move decorations regularly so they remain novel.
Install Sprinkler Systems
Cardinals will come down to bathe and collect drinking water from lawn and garden sprinkler spray. Set up sprinklers on timers to spray for 5-10 minutes in early morning when cardinals are most active.
Offer Wind Chimes and Moving Objects
The movement and sound of wind chimes, spinning pinwheels, hanging strips of shiny mylar tape, and dangling pie pans can attract curious cardinals. Ensure moving objects are near trees for quick escape.
Follow Bird Feeding Best Practices
Adhering to certain bird feeding standards will increase your success.
Commit to a Regular Feeding Schedule
Cardinals rely on predictable feeder patterns. Maintain the same daily or weekly feeding times. Keep feeders stocked reliably with fresh food so cardinals consistently associate your yard with food.
Clean Feeders and Birdbaths Weekly
Dirty food and water sources spread diseases. Use a weak bleach solution to scrub feeders and birdbaths weekly. Rinse thoroughly before refilling. Wear gloves when cleaning.
Avoid Using Pesticides and Herbicides
Chemicals are hazardous to cardinals and reduce their insect food sources. Eliminate or strictly limit use of pesticides and herbicides in your yard. Opt for natural alternatives instead.
Follow Ethical Bird Feeding Principles
Only provide types and amounts of food that birds naturally eat. Never interfere with birds’ natural behaviors. Regularly clean feeders and monitor for sick birds. Promote safety from predators.
Be Patient!
It can take weeks or months for cardinals to find and habitually use new feeders. Start before winter to establish feeding routines before migratory birds leave. Maintain food and water sources year-round. They will come!
Frequently Asked Questions About Attracting Cardinals
Many people have questions about the best ways to attract cardinals. Here are answers to some of the most common queries.
What time of year is best for attracting cardinals?
You can attract cardinals year-round but winter and early spring are peak times. Cardinals are unlikely to migrate so maintaining food sources during cold months is key. Spring is ideal as cardinals establish breeding territories and appreciate food and shelter.
What food do cardinals like the most?
Sunflower seeds are cardinals’ undisputed favorite foods. Offer sunflower kernels in feeders year-round. Suet, peanuts, and mealworms are other top choices. Provide sunflower-heavy seed mixes along with suet cakes and mealworms.
How often should I clean cardinal feeders?
Clean feeders at least once per week. Disassemble feeders and scrub with a diluted bleach solution before rinsing thoroughly. Let dry fully before refilling. Wipe or brush the outside of feeders to remove accumulated dirt and droppings.
What plants and flowers attract cardinals?
Cardinals eat berries from holly, juniper, dogwood, viburnum, and sumac bushes. They nest in dense evergreen trees and shrubs. Cardinals also love flower nectar. Plant native wildflowers like bee balm, sage, and cardinal flowers which are red in color.
Where should I place feeders to attract cardinals?
Position feeders within 3 to 6 feet of cover like shrubs or trees. Elevate feeders 5-7 feet off the ground for safety. Place multiple small feeders 10 feet apart rather than few large ones. Locate feeders out of prevailing winds whenever possible.
How can I keep squirrels away from cardinal feeders?
Use feeders with weight-sensitive perches. Install feeders on poles with squirrel baffles. Add domes or cages to limit access points. Use feeders with weight limits that temporarily close when heavier squirrels access them. Also use squirrel-proof suet feeders.
What’s a good water source for cardinals besides a birdbath?
Adding a small pond or fountain provides drinking and bathing water. Use drip systems or misters on elevated birdbaths to offer clean fresh water. Supply fruits high in moisture like oranges, watermelon, and grapes. Cardinals also drink from lawn sprinklers.
How do I deter larger aggressive birds that scare cardinals away?
Limit mixed seed that draws bigger birds. Use feeders with weight limits or perch size too small for bullies. Separate feeding zones for timid and aggressive birds. Employ scare deterrents like shiny objects, sprinklers, or predator decoys. Timeouts from feeding may disperse them.
What predators should I watch for that threaten cardinals?
Keep watch for feral cats prowling near feeders and nests. Hawks and falcons may hunt young ones. Snakes raid ground nests. Squirrels eat eggs and nestlings. Having nest boxes high up and partially fencing vegetation reduces risks.
Conclusion
With lush red plumage and harmonious songs, cardinals are backyard treasures. Attracting these striking songbirds takes some preparation but watching them regularly grace your outdoor space makes the effort worthwhile. Offer cardinals their preferred foods like sunflower seeds, suet, and mealworms. Provide ample clean water sources. Landscape with sheltering shrubs and trees. Choose feeder locations near protective cover. Follow bird feeding best practices for cleanliness, safety, and accessibility. Be patient for cardinals to find your backyard oasis. With the right habitat, food, and care, cardinals will come flocking to your yard. Soon their flashes of crimson and spirited songs will brighten up your daily life. So get started now to turn your ordinary yard into a cardinal paradise!