What Kind Of Bird Houses Do Cardinals Like?
Numerous bird watchers love observing cardinals’ activities, so many birders install birdhouses in their backyards to lure them. But sadly, they failed to attract them as cardinals don’t prefer traditional birdhouses. So, what kind of bird houses do cardinals like?
In essence, cardinals like to nest in special kinds of birdhouses, which are widely known as nesting shelves. These shelves offer cardinals open areas they require to construct their nests.
But all nesting shelves don’t provide everything cardinals need except for the best ones, which you can find in this content. So, let’s check them out.
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Best Nesting Shelves For Cardinals: Explore The Most Appropriate Ones
Below, we have shared some superior quality cardinal birdhouses that come at a reasonable price but will fulfill your requirements. Let’s inspect them.
1. Backyard Boys Woodworking Cardinal Nest Box
Key Specifications:
Give your stunning, attractive backyard cardinals a safe place to reside and thrive with the help of this Backyard Boys Woodworking Cardinal Nest Box.
This birdhouse is made of red cedar to ensure optimum rigidity and unparalleled durability that no other birdhouse can offer that comes within this price range.
With an ergonomic design and compact structure, the birdhouse can contain a couple of cardinals and provide them with the necessary shelter they need during harsh environmental conditions.
Alongside offering such facilities, this 3.2 pounds birdhouse offers users many benefits, like it promotes easy mounting and carrying.
Overall, the Backyard Boys Cardinal Nest Box houses virtually everything you require from the best-quality birdhouse, yet it comes at a reasonable price.
2. Coveside Nesting Perch
Key Specifications:
Our 2nd recommendation is the Coveside Nesting Perch, offering an open-front design and a sturdy structure that’s gonna last for years.
It’s entirely hand-crafted in America and made with the top-quality wood you may never find in other birdhouses. The manufacturer has kept its front section open to help cardinals easily enter and exit.
Not only that, but this birdhouse also features a perch station, enabling cardinals to take a rest after pretty long flights. Speaking of its size, this birding equipment is large and offers ample room for a cardinal family to stay inside comfortably.
Last but not least, it supports easy mounting on walls, tree branches, and poles, and another best fact is that this 2.55 pounds birdhouse is light, letting you carry this gear effortlessly anywhere you want.
3. Cardinals Nesting Shelf Platforms
Key Specifications:
The cardinals nesting shelf platforms have barely any competition when it comes to luring cardinals and offering them a comfy home to nest.
Made from red cedar, these two pieces of nesting shelves will hold up for years without damage. They are hand-crafted, so you can notice the precision in every joint.
Another notable factor of these two shelves is they have wide openings, offering easy access to birdies. They are compact, and thus conveying them becomes a cinch.
Lastly, they come preassembled, so you can rest assured that you can hang them on walls, trees, or poles right after receiving these two pieces of birding gear.
4. Solution4Patio Homes Garden USA Cedar Bird Feeder/Birdhouse
Key Specifications:
Meet the Solution4Patio Homes Garden Birdhouse, promoted as a bird feeder yet works incredibly well as a birdhouse.
Like the most other high-quality birdhouses on this list, this one is also made out of cedar wood to carry out the conformity of becoming an incredibly durable and top-notch birdhouse.
Furthermore, it comes with double-side suet cages, which you can utilize to place black oil sunflower seeds and attract your favorite birds, cardinals.
Finally, weighing around 3.2 pounds, it promotes easy carrying and installation. In short, it has everything you will want from the best quality birdhouse.
5. JCs Wildlife Cedar Robin Roost Birdhouse
Key Specifications:
With an out-of-the-box design and stiff construction, the JCs wildlife cedar robin roost birdhouse can be your favorite cardinals’ ultimate companion.
It’s crafted from cedar and recycled poly lumber, guaranteeing this birdhouse won’t fade, split or break over time regardless of harsh use. The other benefit these materials provide is easy cleaning.
Now let’s describe how easy it is to install; well, it has got drilled mounting holes, helping you hang this item on walls, trees, poles, or anywhere you want in no time.
All in all, beautifully designed and creatively built, it will lure both cardinals and bird watchers who admire the beauty.
So, these are all the top-rated and high-quality birdhouses we found that are appropriate for cardinals. Now, let’s describe what you look at before purchasing one.
Things To Consider While Picking A Birdhouse For Cardinal:
Several matters are associated with purchasing a birdhouse; below, we have revealed them to help you better comprehend them. Hence, let’s get straight into it.
Construction Quality
Indeed, you want your birdhouse to last for an extended duration and serve you and your birdies the best performance. Hence, to experience that, first, you should ensure that it is constructed of high-quality wood.
Also, you must check whether the manufacturers guarantee the longevity and sturdiness of the birdhouse or not. By inspecting these two vital factors, you can be sure of the construction quality of your would-be cardinal birdhouse.
Base Or Tray Size
The birdhouse base or tray size is another crucial feature you must inspect before picking one. You must ensure the base is large and wide enough to accommodate nesting materials such as twigs and grasses.
Besides, it should offer enough space for mother cardinals and babies to sit comfortably. Also, you must ensure that the birdhouse’s base is thick and has no holes, which might allow air to circulate and make birds lose their body heat.
Mounting Option
Although most birdhouses come with mounting options like pre-drilled holes or attached hooks, you must check whether your preferred one offers a sturdy mounting facility or not.
If you can’t mount the birdhouse appropriately and comfortably, then there will be no use for this birding equipment. However, alongside checking the mounting mechanism, you need to examine its weight as well.
FYI, a lightweight birdhouse will help you carry it out into the wild more comfortably than a heavy cardinal birdhouse.
Budget
The last factor to consider is the budget. You know there is a saying that the best cardinal birdhouse comes with a high price tag.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t get the high-quality one at an affordable price. All the birdhouses mentioned in this article are less pricey but will serve the best performance for years. So, these are ideal options to adhere to.
However, if you don’t want to purchase a cardinal birdhouse; instead, you want to build one by yourself, this article will help you with that.
The Appropriate Place To Install Your Cardinal Birdhouse
As you know, cardinals prefer to build their nests in open areas covered with foliage. Hence, you should mount your birdhouse in a sturdy tree with a dense leaf canopy. You must mount it using a mesh or wire fence and tuck it under vines and other greenery.
After installing your birdhouse, remember that you will make a construction wonderland for your favorite birdies. And to do that, you shouldn’t prune any vines or other leaves and ensure those birds live around thick vegetation.
Additionally, you can install several bird feeders and baths in your yard to make the environment more bird-friendly. You can fill those bird feeders with cardinals’ favorite seeds, including safflower and black oil sunflower seeds.
In short, you must do all the chores required to give those stunning birds a comfy and healthy environment to thrive.
How To Monitor Birdhouses To Ensure Ultimate Safety Of Cardinals
Cardinals build their nests five to fifteen feet above the ground to defend against predators. So, you should maintain that height while installing the birdhouse.
Also, you must cut down strong-smelling mulch as it can attract feral cats, which cardinals consider predatory animals. If you tend to pet a cat inside your home and allow it to travel outside, ensure you trim your cat’s claws regularly so it can’t climb trees and harm cardinals.
Like cats, another disturbance-causing animal is the cowbird which looks for an opportunity to parasitize the cardinals’ nest and lay eggs. A female cowbird waits for the mother cardinal to leave the nest, and when she finds the moment, she sits on the nest and lays eggs.
So, you must reduce the risk of cowbirds invading cardinals’ nests. Usually, female cardinals leave the nests to find food, and if you can offer them enough food and water, they won’t have to leave their birdhouses, and cowbirds won’t get the chance to parasitize.
You can also install a night vision camera on the nesting shelf to monitor whether your favorite birds are at any risk or not. Doing this lets you stay tension-free knowing about your birds’ condition.
So, these are all the steps to follow to monitor your newly installed birdhouse for cardinals.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How High Should You Put A Cardinal Birdhouse?
You should install a cardinal birdhouse at the height of five to fifteen feet from the ground. Mounting a birdhouse at such a height will help cardinals stay secure from predators.
2. When Should You Install A Cardinal Birdhouse?
You should put a birdhouse for cardinals in the fall. After installing it, you can place some twigs and grasses inside the birdhouse. Also, make sure you choose a tree with plenty of leaves for the birdhouse installation.
3. How Can I Lure Cardinals To My Birdhouses?
You can make your yard cardinal-friendly by installing several birdhouses, bird feeders, and baths. You can load those feeders with berries, insects, and seeds like safflower and sunflower. You should also perform regular cleaning duties to lure cardinals and keep them healthy.
Wrapping Up:
Although nesting shelves aka birdhouses can help attract cardinals, you can’t lure these birds every time with these birding items. Cardinals love to live in the wild, and they always choose trees in open areas yet covered with thick vegetation to build their nests.
So, if you notice no cardinals in your backyards even after arranging all the essential elements, you shouldn’t be upset, instead, have patience and wait for your visitors. However, we hope you enjoyed reading this content and will share it with your friends on Twitter and Pinterest in appreciation.
