Why are the cardinals scared? (1 Viewer)

[cherios]

Hi all

I just wanted to ask a few questions so here goes....
I have been feeding a northern cardinal for about a year now, he usually comes and visits frequently, but recently i bought two new feeders a cedar lodge platform and a squirrel proof Duncraft platform feeder and i haven't seen him for about a week. I put sunflower seeds in both feeders, but the cardinal avoids both. What am i doing wrong?

oh yeah i also put a squirrel proof tube feeder on a tree to attract woodpeckers and jays, but they too have not taken to the feeders.
If anyone could help me I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[KC Foggin]

Hi Cherios and a warm welcome to you from the entire staff here at Bird Forum.

It might have been a better idea to leave the feeder your cardinal was comfortable with up for awhile as you added new ones. That said, birds are notoriously cautious of anything new so I suspect after a point in time you will have your cardinal and other regular visitors back. I seldom get cardinals at my feeders except for the nesting season. I guess it's easier for the stressed out parent to grab food from a feeder than to hunt it down. Good luck and let me know if the cardinal returns.

 

[cherios]

hi

Hi Cherios and a warm welcome to you from the entire staff here at Bird Forum.

It might have been a better idea to leave the feeder your cardinal was comfortable with up for awhile as you added new ones. That said, birds are notoriously cautious of anything new so I suspect after a point in time you will have your cardinal and other regular visitors back. I seldom get cardinals at my feeders except for the nesting season. I guess it's easier for the stressed out parent to grab food from a feeder than to hunt it down. Good luck and let me know if the cardinal returns.

Hi
Thanks for the warm wishes and thanks for the info. I'll give it a shot....

Cherios

 

[gthang]

Yeah. My dad's planning to take down both of our feeders and plut up just the hummingbird feeder... I keep telling him that it's a bad idea. He just doesn't listen.

Anyway, if you also get too many visitors at once to the cardinal's prefered feeder, you might want to buy another of the exact same feeder to lighten the load. Kind of like finding a fast food joint to eat lunch in: Do you eat in the crowded one or one that has fewer people inside? Fewer birds means more places to sit and eat. Also more seed for himself.

You might also try varying the food that you give him. Research the foods cardinals eat most: black oil sunflower, black stripe sunflower, and peanut kernels to see if there are any mixes you can make with these foods. Like humans, birds get tired of the same thing over and over again. If you are offering just sunflower seeds, try offering a seed mix containing sunflower seeds. These seed mixes attract larger ranges of birds than just each seed alone.

Hope this was loads of help.

Cheerio!