Bird house for cardinals?
July 31, 2010 Bird House Feeder
I’m wanting to build a birdhouse specifically for cardinals. Anyone know what kind of house is best for them? Where can I find plans for one? I’ve found a lot of plans online for other birds, but not much for cardinals. Do they not prefer built houses?
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Comments (5)
Hummingbirds are fun, entertaining, full of energy and it’s easy to attract hummingbirds.
You can make a normal bird house with a hole about 2in in diameter on the front of the box. Place the birdhouse at least 6ft off the ground, and not too close to loud places(i.e. near a garage door). Put grass clippings, cotton, leaves, twigs and other nesting material below the box on the ground so they have materials for the nest. Oh, one last thing, make sure that once they leave the box that u clean it out or they won’t use it next year. Hope I helped!
Cardinals are not nestbox dwellers, they prefer building their nests in trees.
If you put this nestbox up, you will attract chickadees, wrens, titmice and if you are lucky, bluebirds. Be careful of the house sparrow though (which is technically not even a sparrow, it is a weaver finch), they are very destructive and will take over a nestbox that is already being used. They will kill parents and babies right in the nest. I belong to a birding forum and this is the topic of discussion a lot.
They are beautiful birds aren’t they? Try these links -
The best thing you can do for cardinals is plant a lot of bushes, such as spirea. Cardinals love to be low and hiding in vegetation. Ha — they also love to eat ALL my grapes EVERY year, but that is another story! I have never seen a cardinal in any one of my birdhouses.
Cardinals are not cavity nesters and, so, will not use a bird house. They build nests in dense bushes. If you plant bushes, make sure they are native to your area. To attract cardinals, they should be fruit bearing bushes.
Japanese spirea is invasive and is not a good choice. Go to the USDA website or your local cooperative extension website for a list of native plants in your area.