What do cardinals like to eat

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Birds are frequently the most active and colorful living creatures enco Saturday, March 14, What do Northern Cardinals like to eat? Northern Cardinals are medium-sized songbirds found in the eastern and southwestern United States. They are found in deciduous woodlands, riparian corridors, and deserts. In all regions they seek dense tangles and vines. Cardinals are especially fond of suburban yards. Both the bright red males and olive brown females have a crest and large conical red bills.

These bills are perfect for eating larger seeds at backyard feeders such as sunflower and safflower seeds that cardinals really like. Keep reading to learn what else that Northern Cardinals like to eat and how to attract them.

This page is a supplement to my overview page on attracting Northern Cardinals. Cardinals switch up their nesting spots frequently. But they very well may abandon the spot a few weeks later when they have another clutch. And so having a variety of thick shrubs and evergreen trees is important to satisfy the nesting needs of cardinals. You could put out the most elaborative and beautiful bird houses and cardinals will always scoff at it and build a nesting spot for themselves. You can use an empty suet feeder or even place materials on their platform feeders.

Offer up pine needles, blades of grass, dog fur and twigs, and these birds will happily accept. They may even choose to build their nest close by! Did you know that the bright red plumage that male Northern Cardinals don get that way from the carotenoid pigments found in red fruit? Chowing down on red berries helps males grow even brighter feathers which in turn helps him to attract mates.

That said, cardinals are really after the seeds in fruits. Cardinals have no problem getting to the seed inside, but many other birds do. This seed is a great option to use if you want to attract cardinals but discriminate against other birds. Unfortunately, almost every other bird species eat sunflowers chips too so cardinals will have more competition at the feeder.

Cardinals enjoy safflower and eat it regularly. But an amazing benefit of safflower is that many other birds ignore it, which leaves more food for cardinals! When I want to see as many cardinals as possible at my feeders, then I typically use a mix of black oil sunflower and safflower seed. A few other foods that attract cardinals to bird feeders are corn and shelled peanuts.

There are thousands of different bird feeders that you can choose from, but cardinals will not use many of them, even if they contain their favorite foods. This is because not all bird feeders are designed to meet the specific needs of Northern Cardinals. Second, they prefer to feed facing forward. The perches on tube feeders also tend to be too small for cardinals. A simple hack to get cardinals to use a tube feeder is to attach a tray at the bottom.

This gives them a place to land and eat from without having to use the feeding ports. In this short video, you can see some of the bird feeders that my cardinals enjoy best! Here is a LIVE view of the ground beneath my bird feeders. To help make cardinals feel comfortable in your backyard and around your feeders, you should make sure there are plenty of places for them to hide and take cover.

Cardinals prefer hiding and nesting in dense thickets that include vines, shrubs, or bushes. My recommendation is to place your bird feeding station near these areas and avoid the middle of your yard. Cardinals will appreciate the privacy and being near escape routes! Like most other mammals and birds, Northern Cardinals need to drink every day. My advice is to take advantage of this fact and provide fresh, clean water in addition to a consistent food source. If you are not lucky enough to have a small stream running through your backyard, then you are going to need to buy a bird bath!

Here is the bird bath that I am currently using at my feeding station:. Second, cardinals prefer being on the ground to drink and will be most comfortable using a ground bath. Before buying a new bird bath, please learn how to maintain them properly!