The temperatures are going to really drop this week here in northern Ohio and have already started to take the fall. I've noticed the cardinals are hanging around more.
As you can see this guy loves feeding from a sunflower lantern. It seems no matter what time of day I look out back there he is. There's about four other males that show up each day along with three females, but this guy has claimed the lantern as his.
One female sits in my fly through all day to avoid the elements. She will fly to a near by tree or my fence when I come out to put fresh food out but the minute I'm back inside she's back in the feeder.
As far as the Safflower experiment it's working great. The cardinals as well as some finches visit it but the starlings and sparrows leave it alone.
If your looking to attract cardinals to your back yard feeding is pretty simple. They prefer a large enough feeder where they can perch comfortably. Try either a hopper feeder, fly through or a lantern type like I'm using in this photo.
As far as food goes they prefer black oil sunflower seed, safflower seed, sunflower chips and even some cracked corn. I also often see them eating peanut halves from my fly though feeder.
You can always tell when they are breeding (which can happen up to four times a year) because the male picks up a seed, hops over to the female, and the two momentarily touch beaks as he feeds her and she takes the food. Mate feeding will continue through the egg laying and incubation phases of breeding. I love sitting out back and watching it.
As for their nest they use twigs, bark strips, vines, leafs and paper lined with fine grass and hair placed in dense shrubbery or among branches of small trees 1-15 feet above the ground. Around here I notice they use the neighbors pine tree allot.
As you can see they do not really require allot to attract and really add some nice color to your yard. If your not feeding them now, try some black oil and safflower and if their in the area it will only be a matter of time before they find it and become regulars in your yard.
4 comments:
I think few things are as pleasing to the eye as a bright, red, male cardinal against a backdrop of white snow. :-)
It rarely snows where I am, but we do have a plentiful supply of cardinals year 'round. Every summer for the past few years, we've had a family of them nesting and raising babies in our yard. I'm always amazed at how involved the male is in tending to the young. ;-)
Such a beautiful bird, the Cardinal, song and all. Our birdhouse just blew off the perch the other day. Shattered everywhere. It attracted blue birds and tree swallows. Got another and will put it up as soon as the temps raise 10ยบ here.
Love,
Pone
While living in Virginia we had a plethora of cardinals all the time. Living in the Midwest, it is seldom that we sight them.
We need to attract them with food, but we have so much wind that a hanging dispenser would likely find it's way on the deck. We'd also have to devise a way to keep the squirrells from munching on it also.
Renna, I did not realize that the males were involved with the care of their young.
sorry for the slow post. I've been working way to much. I'm using my iPhone at work to post this. I'll be adding new material this week.
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