Cardinals usually are the first birds to feed in the morning and the last to feed at night. They need a feeder with a roomy tray or open bird table because they require ample space to perch comfortably. They often feed from the ground.
Cardinals eat a variety of foods: sunflower seed, safflower seed, cracked corn, suet, suet mixtures, peanut hearts, peanuts and nutmeats of all kinds. They also like melon seeds, pieces of raisins and banana, cornbread and white bread.
If you want to set up a feeder for just cardinals and maybe some small birds such as chickadees, set your feeder in the midst of a bush or shrub, no higher than that bush or shrub. Cardinals nest in bushes and they love to eat in a secluded place. Replicating cardinals' preferred habitat by your feeding set-up is one way to keep other large birds, such as doves and pigeons away because they are too large to use a feeder located in this fashion.
Water also plays a very important part in attracting cardinals and other birds, both in summer and winter.
If you are lucky enough to have more than one pair of cardinals at your feeding station, you may see one or two males trying to keep all the others from the feeding tray. This is very common among finches - the family of birds to which the cardinal belongs. However, sooner or later every one gets its turn. Even the male cardinal who won't let his mate eat with him all winter eventually relents. When spring comes he begins to regard his mate in a new light. Instead of chasing her from the feeding tray, he now begins to offer her shucked sunflower seeds and other choice tidbits. When the cardinals have their young they will bring them to the feeder and teach them how to feed themselves.
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