How to attract the Cardinals in the garden? By BirdFeederist

To increase the beauty of gardens people love to attract cardinals. It is also enjoyable to watch the cardinals in the garden. But somehow it can be a little challenging to attract the cardinals to the garden due to their aggressive nature. Especially in the presence of squirrels and other wild animals and birds.

But don’t worry, there are different ways of attracting cardinals to the garden. These ways include the use of special feeders for cardinals, good food, and many other ways, which are very beneficial for attracting the maximum number of cardinals.

Different ways to attract the cardinals

Let’s discuss different ways to attract the maximum number of cardinals in your garden.

1. Use special feeders

The first and the most important thing to attract the maximum number of cardinals is the use of the unique feeders, which are specially designed for the cardinals because cardinals don’t use any feeder for feeding. They usually like a feeder that has proper perches with strong material. They love feeding by facing forward. There are different kinds of feeders available for the cardinals. These include the tube type and transparent house type feeders as well. You can easily use them accordingly in the garden or in front of your window. Wherever you put your cardinal feeder, make sure it is safe from the unwanted audience.

2. Use special food

You can also try to attract the maximum number of cardinals by using their favorite food in the feeder. Cardinals like to eat different kinds of seeds, nuts, and fruit as well. Their beak is powerful in dealing with various types of seeds. But their favorite seeds are sunflower and safflower seeds. The most popular seeds used by the people to attract the cardinals are Black-oil-sunflower seeds. Safflower seeds are the most common to attract the cardinals because these seeds are not liked by the other birds and squirrels as well. So you can use the safflower seeds to minimize the unwanted audience at your feeder.

3. Feeder placement       

Feeder placement is an important thing to attract any bird to your feeder. This is the most crucial factor which plays a role in the strength of the cardinals at your feeder. Cardinals usually like to feed on a feeder with proper protective cover. Moreover, make sure to hang the feeder near some trees are any other place for the rest of the cardinals during feeding. You can also use multiple feeders at different height locations to attract the maximum number of cardinals. Wherever you put it, your feeder makes sure it is safe from the squirrels.

4. Use a water source

Providing a water source in your garden is another right way to attract cardinals and many other birds because water is essential for the cardinals and all the other birds as well. Moreover, cardinals are the birds that required a specific amount of water on a daily basis. So providing a reliable water source is a good way of attracting them, mainly when you use this source with the bird’s seed feeder. Because in this way, cardinals get the seeds and water in the same place. Moreover, you can also provide a 2 to 3 inches bathing tray to the cardinals. This will become more important on winter days. Because during these days you need to prevent the water from frozen as well. You can also use the bathing trays on the ground to provide extra security to the shy cardinals.

5. Keep the cardinal feeders full

Make sure to don’t leave your cardinal feeder empty. Because cardinals usually don’t migrate like many other birds. So it means they need the feeders whole the year. If they found your feeder empty, they can migrate to any other feeder near your feeder to get the food, and you need to wait for some new cardinals to find your feeder. You need to keep full your cardinal feeder even on the stormiest and winter days as well.

6. Spread some seeds on the ground

If you think your garden is safe from squirrels and other unwanted audiences, you can also use the ground feeding tip to attract the cardinals. You need to just spread some seeds on the ground to attract the maximum number of cardinals in your garden. Fallen seeds on the ground for a few days can be more encouraging for the cardinals.

7. Provide nesting material

This is another way to attract the maximum number of cardinals in the garden, especially in the breeding season. Because cardinals rarely use the birdhouses. They like to build their houses with dense green material. So planting thick greenery can be the right way of providing them the excellent nesting material. You can also put the yarn, string, and even the dog fur in a separate suet cage to help the birds. You can also use any lightweight material for this purpose.

What should things be avoided while attracting cardinals?

Whenever you are trying to attract the maximum number of cardinals in your garden, it’s essential to avoid certain things. Because this can minimize all your efforts to attract the cardinals, these things include the following.

• Make sure there is no reflective thing in your garden. Because sometimes cardinals are very aggressive and don’t like their own images in the reflective surfaces. Due to this, they can damage their beak as well. Especially try to hide your window reflection. Moreover, you need to cover all the mirrors in the garden when not in use.
• You need to make sure your feeder is not accessible by the squirrels or any pet animal in your garden. Moreover,  Make sure to use the location where the wild animals can’t reach.
• The last thing is about the cleaning of the cardinal bird feeder. Try to avoid leaving your cardinal bird feeder dirty. Because this does not just decrease the cardinal strength on your feeder, it’s also very harmful to all the birds as well because many dirty feeders contain toxic chemicals.

Conclusion

Attracting cardinals in the garden is somehow a difficult task. But by using different ways as discussed above, it becomes very easy. You have to concentrate on the above techniques to have cardinals in your garden.