Cardinals need a little TLC

Short neck of a female cardinal

Question
Cardinals are my favorite bird. I have a tube feeder and I fill it with sunflower seeds. But the cardinals never come to the feeder. I see other birds but no cardinals. What's wrong? Help!

Answer
I sympathize with your plight. Cardinals are the favorite of almost every backyard birdwatcher. Fortunately they are one of the most frequently seen birds in this area, according to the 2014 Great Backyard Bird Count.

Before we begin, we need to have a little anatomy lesson about the cardinal. Cardinals have short necks. They prefer to eat their food head-ons whereas most other backyard birds are able to turn their necks to reach seed ports on tube feeders. Cardinals need a little encouragement.

There are several options that should solve your problem.

If you have a tube feeder made by Droll Yankees, you can buy special perches designed specifically for cardinals. Their Perch Ring simply slips onto the perches on your tube feeder. The Versa Perch attaches to the base of the feeder.

Versa Perch is designed for cardinals

Another possibility for a Droll Yankees feeder is to attach a try onto the bottom of the feeder. We carry two sizes: 7½ inches in diameter and 10½ inches. Cardinals will feel comfortable using either one.

(To find out if your tube feeder is made by Droll Yankees, simply check the lid. It will be embossed with the company's name.)

If your feeder isn't made by Droll Yankees, try the Seed Hoop, a netlike device that is easily hung from any tube feeder. The Seed Hoop catches seed spilled by other birds; the cardinal simply perches on the Seed Hoop to feed. It also works with hopper-style feeders. (The Seed Hoop has another advantage: It keeps seed from spilling onto your lawn.)

The Seed Hoop comes in two sizes: 16 inches in diameter and 24 inches in diameter. We carry both but usually the 16-inch size is fine for most feeders. 

You have one more option. You can buy a ground feeding station. It is a separate standing unit that stands about 6 inches above the ground. A mesh bottom lets rainwater pass through. Cardinals have no trouble at all feasting from this feeder. 

Seed Hoop attached to a hopper feeder

(Keep in mind that a ground feeder is welcome territory for squirrels. You can deter them by using safflower seed or shelled sunflower chips coated with hot pepper powder or liquid. Safflower is one of the cardinal's favorite food; most songbirds, including cardinals, will readily eat hot pepper seed. They have few taste buds and they stomach the spicy seed. Squirrels find safflower to be bitter, and they won't eat seed coated with hot pepper unless they are desperate for food. They'll probably pay for that later.)

So those are your options. Each one works. Please visit the store and we'll be glad to offer advice on we can meet your needs.

How do I attract cardinals to my backyard?

The male Northern Cardinal is perhaps most responsible for getting people interested in feeding birds in the backyard. Its showy, brilliant color looks great in all seasons. Remember that flash of color when the rest of the world was gray and snowy? 

Also, the cardinal's sweet songs are the first to be heard in the morning. The female cardinal is one of the few female birds that sing, often while sitting on the nest. This may give information to the male to bring food to the nest.

The distinctive crest can be raised and pointed when agitated, or lowered when resting. Both males and females have bright red beaks. 

The cardinal is so popular that it is the state bird of seven states: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina, West Virginia and Virginia.

Platform feeders can be placed on the ground or on a pole

The cardinal usually will be the first to feed in the morning and the last at night. You can attract cardinals to your backyard by offering them black-oil sunflower seed, which they seem to prefer. They also eat safflower seed, cracked corn, white millet, nutmeats and peanut butter suet cakes. Do you have blueberries or apples that are a bit past their prime for your table? Cardinals might appreciate them. Offer the fruit in platform feeders.

Cardinals are ground-feeders. A ground-level platform feeder is an ideal option. To provide drainage in wet periods, the bottom of the feeder is made of non-rusting metal or plastic mesh and the feeder itself is elevated on legs.

Cardinals also feed from other types of feeders that are placed or hung about 5 feet off the ground. They easily reach seed from open platform feeders and hopper feeders. They also will come to tube-style feeders but only if the perches are long enough. Cardinals feed head-on because they have very short necks that make side-feeding difficult. Some feeders take this problem into account. Others can be retrofitted onto existing tube feeders. If you have a tube feeder with short perches, you can add a tray to the bottom of the feeder so cardinals could stand there and eat. Some manufacturers, such as Droll Yankees, offer extensions to existing perches. The Bird House offers several choices for each of these options. When selecting a feeder, choose one that is heavy. It will provide more stability when cardinals are feeding (cardinals are skittish about feeders that sway in the breeze).

A hopper feeder enables cardinals to feed easily

Make sure feeders are filled early in the morning and late in the evening. Also, keep feeders filled even during the stormiest winter days. Because cardinals stay in the same basic territory all year long, they will become accustomed to a reliable food source.

Cardinals do not use nesting boxes (bird houses). They prefer to nest, roost and seek cover in dense foliage. With their bright plumage, is it any wonder that they need protected areas? In the wild, cardinals live in brushy woodlands, stream-side thickets and orchards. If you have space in your backyard, try to mimic that environment. 

Create an open space bordered by tree- and berry-producing shrubs. Good choices are dogwood, mulberry, serviceberry, viburnum, cherry, elderberry, tulip tree, hackberry, sumac, blueberry and grape. These plants perform double duty as cover and food. A thick shrub provides shelter as well. For winter, when deciduous trees have lost their leaves, cardinals depend on dense evergreens, such as pines, spruce and hemlocks.

Cardinals love berries of dogwood, serviceberry and viburnum 

Cardinals benefit from tall trees, such as tulip trees, oaks, maples and large evergreens. They pick the high points in the backyard for singing, particularly during the spring and early summer when breeding season begins.

Keep in mind that male cardinals are territorial and will attack their own reflections. Glaring windows are especially dangerous, as the birds may strike their heads during the attacks. Window decals or a new product, the Feather Guard, help warn cardinals away from the reflections.

Make sure to offer a source of water for drinking and bathing. As is the case with all birds, the water should be kept fresh so as to prevent disease or the breeding of mosquitoes. The Bird House has natural products that keep bird baths cleaner and fresher longer.

By meeting the Northern Cardinal's needs for year-round food, ample shelter and nesting sites, and fresh water, you're bound to attract these lovely birds to your backyard. You'll enjoy their company from season to season.

The cardinal's beak tells the story

Beak of male cardinal

Have you ever tried to crack open a nut by chomping on it between your teeth? Northern Cardinals do this all the time with their cone-shaped beaks, as do sparrows, grosbeaks and finches.

These beaks have special features to make it easier: the edges of the lower beak fit into special groves in the upper beak. The bird uses its tongue to maneuver the seed into the groove to be crushed so the bird can eat the seed within.

Beaks meant for cracking seed usually are thicker and stronger than other beaks. The size is an indicator of what seed the bird eats. The goldfinch, with its smaller beak, prefers Nyjer seed while birds with larger beaks such as cardinals eat sunflower seeds. Look at the beaks of birds at the feeder and also look at what they are eating. While not all birds can crack sunflower shells, many more will eat sunflower chips (without shells).

About 90 percent of a cardinal's diet consists of seeds, as well as grains and fruits. It supplements these with insects, such as beetles, cicadas, grasshoppers and snails. During the summer, cardinals seem to prefer seeds that need husking, although they're less picky during the winter, when seed is scarce. At the feeder, you'll see cardinals eating mostly sunflower seeds (both black and striped sunflower seeds) and safflower seed. We've watched many cardinals on the patio break up peanuts and mash raisins to eat.