Northern Cardinals: How To Attract Them In 4 Easy Steps

Northern Cardinals are one of the most recognized birds throughout their range and a favourite backyard visitor of many. Cardinals are often the bird homeowners most wish to attract when placing a feeder in their yard.

This winter I regularly have a dozen cardinals visiting my feeders at the same time providing an incredible sight. To entice cardinals to my yard I have implemented a few simple measures to make my landscape more enticing. Attracting cardinals is quite simple if you follow these four easy steps.

33113972041 8cd6ceba9d o - Northern Cardinals: How To Attract Them In 4 Easy Steps — **Cedars provide shelter from the elements and predators making them a perfect tree for attracting cardinals.**

Provide Adequate Habitat

Northern Cardinals prefer a habitat consisting of dense thickets that provide cover. If your yard is void of this type of vegetation, add a few trees and shrubs. I know what you are thinking, “Trees take years to grow, and I won’t see cardinals for decades.” By carefully choosing which species to plant the benefits will be reaped much sooner. Fortunately, cardinals tend to hide low to the ground, which means large mature trees are not required to attract cardinals.

Two of my favourite native species which provide great cover for cardinals are Red Osier Dogwood and Eastern White Cedar. Both are readily available at area nurseries, are inexpensive to purchase, and as is the case with all plants native to our area are extremely easy to grow even if you lack a green thumb.

IMG 2683 Edit Edit - Northern Cardinals: How To Attract Them In 4 Easy Steps — **Female Northern Cardinal perched in the safety of a dense thicket.**

Fruit from the Red Osier Dogwood is consumed by over 100 bird species in Ontario making it my favourite native shrub. Since introducing this species to my landscape several years ago, I have seen an increase in the variety of birds visiting my yard and an increase in the number of cardinals. This plant is incredibly hardy and does best in full sun to part shade. An incredibly versatile shrub, it can tolerate dry conditions but will also grow in standing water.

Red Osier Dogwoods are fast growing reaching a maximum height and spread of 12 feet in only a few years. Dogwoods are easily pruned if a smaller shrub is more suited to your yard. Comprised of multiple stems, Red Osier Dogwoods provide excellent shelter to a multitude of songbirds including the cardinal. The deep red branches add a beautiful element of colour to any landscape, especially during the winter months when colour is absent from most yards.

16155723715 c6347c7bab o - Northern Cardinals: How To Attract Them In 4 Easy Steps — **Female Northern Cardinal**

When searching for a cedar tree, make sure you purchase an Eastern White Cedar. Emerald Cedars are often sold in mass quantities at every garden centre, home improvement store, and just about any other retailer selling live plants come spring. The reason to avoid these trees is their foliage is too dense denying birds access to the inner branches, thus providing no shelter at all. The Eastern White Cedar’s drooping branches and dark green foliage provide protection from the elements and predators not to mention the perfect location to construct a nest.

Tolerant of some shade, the Eastern White Cedar can reach a height of 50 feet and prefers moist soil. These trees can be purchased at area garden centres as 3 to 4-foot specimens, sufficient size to attract cardinals. Like the Red Osier Dogwood, Eastern White Cedars can be topped and pruned to contain their size and make beautifally dense hedges the perfect cover for birds.

16537658466 b258d96452 o - Northern Cardinals: How To Attract Them In 4 Easy Steps — **Regardless of time of year, a source of fresh water will attract more cardinals.**

Add A Water Source

Fresh water is an excellent way to attract more birds and is an even bigger draw than food as not every yard has a water source. Water can be offered in various ways, from a simple dish to an elaborate water feature. Bird baths are one of the most common ways to provide water as birds can both drink and bathe. For the chilly winter months consider a heated bird bath to prevent the water from freezing.

Despite frigid temperatures across our region during winter months, birds still need to bathe as feather maintenance is vital to their survival. A heated bird bath will certainly attract more cardinals to your yard as this can be the unique feature that makes your yard more attractive than your neighbour’s.

15576809603 0ab9a33273 o - Northern Cardinals: How To Attract Them In 4 Easy Steps — **After clearing the seed ports of my feeders, cardinals will readily cleanup spilled seed from the ground.**

Offer Their Two Favourite Seeds

Cardinals will consume a wide variety of seeds, but they do have two favourties, sunflower, and safflower. Black oil sunflower seed is the most economical seed on the market and is consumed by all songbirds that frequent our area. If I could only have one type of seed to offer in my feeders, black oil sunflower would be my choice.

IMG 6922 2 - Northern Cardinals: How To Attract Them In 4 Easy Steps — **Female Northern Cardinal and male House Finch feeding on black oil sunflower seeds in my Squirrel Buster Classic feeder.**

If cleaning up shells from beneath your feeder is something you wish to avoid, hulled sunflower seed is the perfect choice. Hulled sunflower is simply black oil sunflower seed out of the shell. This is more of a premium seed and costs a bit more money due to processing costs, but will keep your lawn or patio much cleaner. Keep in mind that when buying a bag of hulled sunflower seed, you are only paying for seed and not the shells. A good portion of a 10-pound bag of black oil sunflower seeds is shell weight, so once this is factored in paying extra for hulled sunflower is easier to swallow, for you and the birds.

Safflower seed is another great option for attracting cardinals. This white seed is a favourite of cardinals and is also consumed by Mourning Doves, House Finches, and Black-capped Chickadees. Another benefit of safflower seed is that it is less desirable to squirrels and blackbirds. If squirrels, Common Grackles, and European Starlings are a problem in your yard, try switching to safflower seed.

IMG 2575 Edit Edit 2 - Northern Cardinals: How To Attract Them In 4 Easy Steps — **Northern Cardinals prefer to feed on the ground. During the winter months be sure to keep the snow beneath your feeders packed down to provide these birds an added place to feed.**

Choose The Right Feeder

Northern Cardinals are ground-feeding birds by nature, so this is important to keep in mind when choosing a feeder. Cardinals prefer feeders with large perching areas.

8883649210 494e34c56a o Edit - Northern Cardinals: How To Attract Them In 4 Easy Steps — **Tray-style feeders are perfect for attracting Northern Cardinals.**

A hanging tray feeder offers plenty of room for cardinals to land and is a great option. These feeders feature a mesh bottom made of metal which allows rain and snow to drain keeping the seed fresh longer. These can be hung from any pole system or shepherd’s hook and using a squirrel baffle will keep the squirrels from getting to the seed.

Something to keep in mind when choosing a feeder is cardinals prefer to face forward when they feed. This is another reason tray feeders work so well. If however, a tray feeder is not what you are after then other great options exist.

A hopper feeder that can be hung or pole-mounted will entice cardinals to feed. These feeders typically have a ledge or perch where cardinals can sit and feed or a large tray incorporated on the bottom, which makes them a great choice for cardinals.

8830816424 8f1c5b4f78 o Edit - Northern Cardinals: How To Attract Them In 4 Easy Steps — **This tube feeder with a large perch ring filled with black oil sunflower seed is a favourite combination of the cardinals that visit my yard.**

Tube feeders are also great for attracting Northern Cardinals. Remember, cardinals like to face forward to feed so make sure the tube feeder you choose has large perches to accommodate this. Two excellent choices are Brome’s Squirrel Buster Plus and Squirrel Buster Classic. Both of these feeders are squirrel proof with the seed ports closing off under the weight of a squirrel.

Choose the feeder style that is best suited for your yard and fill it with either sunflower, safflower or a mix of both. Remember to keep your feeder clean and the seed ports free of snow and ice during the winter months.

IMG 2857 Edit Edit - Northern Cardinals: How To Attract Them In 4 Easy Steps — **Attracting cardinals to any yard is simple by following the above-mentioned four easy steps.**

At dawn, cardinals are often the first bird to arrive at a backyard feeder and the last to leave at dusk. Sometimes they can only be identified by their silhouettes and soft calls during these low-light conditions. Attracting cardinals to your yard is quite easy if you follow these four steps. If you lack cardinals in your yard, recognize which of these elements is missing and make a point of implementing them. By providing these necessities, I’m sure you will see an increase in the number of Northern Cardinals frequenting your yard.

Good birding,
Paul

Subscribe To My Blog

Foil Those Squirrels Once and For All Regardless of What Feeder and Seed You Use

Ask anyone who feeds the birds in their yard and most agree squirrels are their nemesis. For me, I realize everything must eat but I like the hard-earned money I spend on bird seed going to the birds, not the squirrels. I have several different styles of feeders up in my yard as I like to have a feeder for everyone and attract as many birds as I can. I have several feeders from the squirrel buster line which work great and others outfitted with baffles and other squirrel deterrents.

IMG 9384 - Foil Those Squirrels Once and For All Regardless of What Feeder and Seed You Use — **Peanuts mixed with Treat Your Own Seed Saver offered in a ground feeder were enjoyed by blue jays and not touched by squirrels.**

These feeders and products all work amazingly but do come with a few stipulations. A hopper feeder mounted on a pole with a baffle requires it be located far enough from a tree or fence that squirrels can’t jump to it. Likewise, it is recommended a squirrel buster feeder be hung 18″ away from any foothold the squirrel can reach from forcing it to place all of its weight on the feeder which closes the seed ports as it is designed to do.

IMG 6737 - Foil Those Squirrels Once and For All Regardless of What Feeder and Seed You Use — **White-breasted Nuthatch at my peanut feeder.**

Maybe you don’t want an elaborate feeder setup or have a heavily treed or narrow yard with a fence where the requirements of these feeders can’t be met. Then what? Well, I have found the solution!

IMG 0147 - Foil Those Squirrels Once and For All Regardless of What Feeder and Seed You Use — **Juncos have returned to Southwestern Ontario and are enjoying white millet in my ground feeder treated with Squirrel Proof Treat Your Own Seed Saver.**

Earlier this year, I started adding Squirrel Proof Treat Your Own Seed Saver to my bird seed. When mixed with any birdseed this liquid adds a hot and spicy sensation birds love and squirrels hate. I must admit I was skeptical trying this product but at only $11.95 a bottle figured it was worth a try. To my delight, I found Squirrel Proof Treat Your Own Seed Saver worked. How this stuff works is it teaches or conditions squirrels to the association between the taste they don’t like and the smell of the food. This process can take a few weeks but I found the results to be almost instant in an area where Grey Squirrels and Red Squirrels are present.

In the video below, I demonstrate how easy this product is to mix with peanuts before filling my feeder.

0 - Foil Those Squirrels Once and For All Regardless of What Feeder and Seed You Use

Watch this video on YouTube

This product is incredibly easy to use. On initial use add 3 to 4 tablespoons of seed saver to 1 pound of your favourite seed. Once squirrels are avoiding your feeder you can cut back to 1 to 2 tablespoons per pound. Each bottle of seed saver treats 35 lbs of bird seed. I use an old plastic coffee can with a snap-on lid to mix my seed as I can easily shake the container ensuring all the seed gets coated.

17223872502 3a929c2d49 o - Foil Those Squirrels Once and For All Regardless of What Feeder and Seed You Use — **Northern Flicker feeding on peanuts halves at my 16″ metal feeder.**

One of my favorite feeders is the 16″ metal peanut feeder. I have had great success over the years attracting woodpeckers, nuthatches, and Carolina Wrens to this feeder but have always hung it from a tree branch with an old wire coat hanger. Squirrels would always walk out on the tree branch and descend the wire easily accessing the peanut halves inside. Once I added the seed saver to the peanuts, the squirrels left the peanuts alone almost immediately. Not only was I happy this vitamin-enriched bird seed mix worked, but I also noticed an increase in birds using the feeder. Whether or not this was because the birds like the seed saver treated peanuts more than plain peanuts or the fact the squirrels previously occupying the feeder kept the birds away, only the birds know.

IMG 9883 - Foil Those Squirrels Once and For All Regardless of What Feeder and Seed You Use — **This Red-bellied Woodpecker enjoyed hulled sunflower seed from my hopper feeder.**

Satisfied with the results, I started mixing the seed saver with hulled sunflower seed offered in a hopper feeder. Again, the results were the same lots of birds and no squirrels. Another feeder I love is my ground feeder. As the name suggests, this feeder is popular with ground-feeding birds including cardinals, doves, and the more desired native sparrows including white-throated, white-crowned, and Dark-eyed Juncos. This feeder also attracts squirrels due to its easy ground access. Since adding seed saver to white millet and hulled sunflower in the ground feeder, no squirrels. I even tried adding treated peanuts halves to the ground feeder figuring this was a squirrel’s favourite food and easiest access and again no squirrels. I could finally watch all the amazing ground-feeding birds use this awesome feeder stress-free without worrying about squirrels emptying it in minutes.

IMG 4694 - Foil Those Squirrels Once and For All Regardless of What Feeder and Seed You Use — **Many birds like this White-crowned Sparrow prefer a ground feeder. Mixing Treat Your Own Seed Saver with my seed ensures I’m feeding the birds and not the squirrels.**

As a bonus, but something I haven’t tried yet, once squirrels are conditioned to the smell of the seed saver it can be added to the base of potted plants or to mulch in your garden to keep squirrels from digging as the seed saver will not harm the plants.

If you are looking to foil those squirrels once and for all, I highly recommend this incredible product!

Good birding,
Paul

Subscribe To My Blog

A New Suet Feeder Delivers Instant Results

Suet is a high-energy food I’ve offered at my feeders for many years. I’ve enjoyed watching woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches, and even Carolina Wrens cling to the various styles of feeders I’ve tried over the years.

It’s important to note not all suet is created equal. In my early years of backyard bird feeding, I thought I was saving a few bucks by purchasing suet from big box stores. As a result, I had minimal action at my feeder. Over the years, I learned inexpensive suet sold at these retailers contains a lot of filler, including milo. Milo is a seed not eaten by birds in eastern North America and is found in cheap seed and suet. As a result, for many years, I watched my suet hang with little activity, and I often ended up throwing it out, having wasted money rather than saving.

Woody - A New Suet Feeder Delivers Instant Results — **The built-in tail prop on this feeder makes it easy for woodpeckers to balance.**

I recently acquired a new suet feeder from Urban Nature Store. This feeder is made from recycled plastic, so it will withstand exposure to the elements and be easy to clean. This feeder is incredibly well-made with a strong wire hanger and fits a standard-size suet cake. The top of the feeder slides up the wire, making it a piece of cake (pun intended) to add the suet. This feeder also features a tail prop that helps the woodpeckers balance, like when clinging to a tree.

IMG 9792 - A New Suet Feeder Delivers Instant Results — **White-breasted Nuthatch**

The suet I am offering in this feeder is insect and nut suet also obtained from Urban Nature Store. I love this suet for several reasons. First, it’s made right here in Ontario by Mill Creek Seed Co. Second, it’s high-quality, made from real insects, chopped peanuts, and beef fat. I’ve been using the Mill Creek brand for years (after realizing my error that where I buy my suet matters) with great success.

Within minutes of hanging this feeder, a Red-breasted Nuthatch was already feeding at it. This happened so quickly that I hadn’t even returned to the house. Now I will admit I have several other feeders in my yard and an established population of birds coming to feed regularly. That said, I have not offered suet this winter as I have limited the number of feeders in preparation for an upcoming move.

IMG 9533 - A New Suet Feeder Delivers Instant Results — **Carolina Wren (left) and Downy Woodpecker (right) feeding at this new feeder from Urban Nature Store.**

On the first day I had this feeder out seven species had visited including:

Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker (my favourite bird)
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren

IMG 9512 - A New Suet Feeder Delivers Instant Results — **This Red-breasted Nuthatch was the first bird to arrive on my new feeder.**

This is the first time I’ve used a suet feeder with a tail prop, and it seems to make a huge difference, especially for the larger woodpeckers like the Hairy and Red-bellied. To say I’m impressed with this feeder would be an understatement, and my only regret is why I didn’t have this feeder years ago. I’m looking forward to more enjoyment watching the birds at this feeder and know I’ll have it for many years thanks to the high-quality construction.

If you are in the market for a suet feeder, I highly recommend trying this one; I’m sure glad I did.

Good birding,
Paul