Animals have two basic needs: food and shelter. Humans are the only evolved animals that require clothing as a basic need.
To attract any animal, all you need is to provide a constant food source, and somewhere they can rest after a busy day of doing whatever animals do.
Attracting cardinals to your yard is that easy. You simply need to understand what constitutes their diet and what they call shelter and make it available. The rest will happen naturally.
You need to go about it the right way, though. This article will show you how to properly attract cardinals.
6 Ways to Attract Cardinals
Discover how you can attract more cardinals to your yard.
Pick the Right Bird Feeder
If you live in an area with cardinals, picking the right bird feeder is just as important as knowing what seeds to fill it with.
A bird feeder is a small setup that you put up and fill with bird food. Most passerines (birds that perch) will stop at the right bird feeder to eat, play, rest, and fly away.
There are several types of bird feeders with most of them being designed to hold certain seeds and foods that different species of birds enjoy.
Cardinals eat a lot of suet and sunflower seeds, which means you should have suet feeders (hopper feeders that hold suet cakes are good for this, too) and tube feeders which hold sunflower seeds.
You can also use platform or tray feeders or even make one yourself if you’re crafty.
Plant evergreen shrubs
Planting shrubs in your yard attracts cardinals more than you think.
The nesting habits of cardinals make them seek out shrubs and trees. Shrubs that aren’t big enough provide them with twigs that they use to build their nests, while the ones that are big enough can become their nesting grounds.
Shrubs encourage them to forage for food. If you plant shrubs using seeds that cardinals enjoy eating, they will have both a home and a food source, which will help you achieve your aim of attracting these pretty birds to your yard.
Also, while this isn’t ideal—nobody likes bugs—insects, and arthropods like beetles and grasshoppers live in shrubs. Cardinals eat them, too. With the right shrubs planted around your yard, they can be your personal pesticide.
Shrubs at the top of a cardinal’s feeding list include staghorn sumac, red-osier dogwood, gray dogwood, and viburnum species.
Create a Welcoming Environment
Hanging the right bird feeder and planting shrubs are just among the many things you can do to create a welcoming environment for cardinals in your yard. The following are some other things you should consider when working to attract these pretty birds.
Provide Perches
Cardinals are passerines and must perch. They’ll only come to your yard if they find where to perch. Sometimes, they don’t want to perch on trees or shrubs. Make room for them by providing perches of all kinds in your yard.
Plant Perennials All Year Round
Perennial flowers are known to stand the test of seasons. However, some people like to prune them in their gardens or yards for various reasons. Allow them stand through winter so that cardinals can have shelter and a food source during that season.
Provide a Water Source
This goes without saying.
With or without feeding, all animals need water. Science tells us that animals can withstand hunger for longer than they can withstand thirst. If cardinals, like any other animals, cannot find water in your yard, you won’t be able to enjoy their beauty or their songs (if they don’t annoy you).
Build a bird bath and find a way to constantly move the water to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs in it. If you’re not crafty or don’t have enough time to build one, you can also buy one.
Cardinals will flock to the moving water source because science has revealed that they are especially attracted to flowing water.
Remember to replace the water often and clean out the bath.
Add Caterpillar-hosting Plants
During the breeding season, cardinals shift to a more protein-based diet. Plant caterpillar host-plants such as dill, fennel, parsley, coneflowers, and milkweed around your yard.
Cardinal parents consume these caterpillars for their replenishment and feed them to their hatchlings to help them build strength (the nesting period is a mere three weeks before they’re left alone).
The problem with caterpillars is that they destroy plants. They eat the plant leaves and leave unsightly holes everywhere, making your yard look lifeless.
You are likely to get impatient with them while waiting for the Cardinals. You won’t have to wait long if you live in areas with cardinals, however, as long as you create a welcoming environment for them.
Also, avoid using pesticides that kill caterpillars so that cardinals can have a good breeding and nesting experience in your yard.
Layer Your Landscaping
Shrub clusters, different types of shrubs, especially evergreen ones, perennial flowers and plants, plants that lose their leaves during fall, and trees that have enough perching space are important for your landscaping if you want to attract cardinals to your yard.
Having perches also inspires them to sing according to ornithologists. They also provide adequate cover for the cardinals during their nesting periods.
Prune your lawn often but not so low that the birds cannot perch on them to forage for insects and seeds that have been blown into the lawn.
You can also scatter the leaves that have fallen from your plants around your lawn to give cardinals enough foraging grounds (insects love to hide under fallen leaves and twigs).
Layering your landscapes is also therapeutic, so there’s that.
Things You Shouldn’t Do If You Want To Attract Cardinals
Here are the things to avoid when trying to attract cardinals to your yard.
Reflective Surfaces
Cardinals are wildly territorial during breeding and nesting periods and cannot tell their reflections from other cardinals. If they see themselves in a mirror or any reflective surface, they’ll attack. Remove all reflective surfaces from their view.
Pet-free Feeding Areas
Keep cardinal feeding areas free of pets. It’s better you train them to not disturb the birds but if you can’t, keep them far away.
Final Thoughts
You know the things to do to attract cardinals to your yard. Now, you can enjoy the beautiful sights of this stunning red bird right from the comfort of your home.
