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Yes, St. Louis loves the baseball Cardinals. But we also love the little bird the team was named for. So we though this would be the perfect week to talk about luring him to your yard. Cardinals are not just good-natured little creatures, but they're pretty to look at, and have a really pleasing song (if it's not coming to mind, look at this; if you spend any time outdoors at all, you'll recognize it.)
Kathy Spahn, a naturalist with the World Bird Sanctuary, says attracting them is fairly simple. "They really like safflower seeds," she says. "You'll also want to provide a water source. And they prefer the feeder to be a little bit away from the house, and not right up against a window, so placing it about 10 feet away is good. If you've got a deck, you can set it on the far side of the deck."
Like most songbirds, cardinals also looooove black oiler sunflower seeds. Due to their build, though,, they can't always comfortably use those swaying, lightweight plastic tube feeders—they need a sturdier "house-feeder." They also like to perch on thickety bushes and shrubs, especially if they are fruit-bearing. This article lists serviceberry, flowering dogwood and arrowwood viburnum, eastern red cedar, white pine and elm as good cardinal-attracting plants. It also notes that because cardinals are territorial, you'll probably have only one mating pair during the warm months, and if you see them on repeated occasions, it's probaby the same pair, as they tend to stay within a nine-mile radius. However, during the winter, when food is scarce, you may end up with a party of birds in your yard.
As for squirrels, there's really no getting rid of, only coping with. But you can keep them from raiding your birdfeeders. St. Louis-based Arundale Products makes an excellent squirrel-proof birdfeeder, The Mandarin; they were the first company to invent the baffle-protected feeder, though many have ripped them off since. Though there are cheaper versions, we posit that you should support a local company—especially since Arundale put up that Rally Squirrel billboard on 44.
Though they prevent millions of squirrels from gorging on birdseed, they are not squirrel haters; in fact, they seem kind of fond of the little guys, and in addition to their birdfeeders, make some wonderful tongue-in-check squirrel merchandise, including a "The Unofficial Field Guide to Undiscovered Squirrels," calendar, and an excellent rally squirrel T-shirt. You'll find all that and more at (natch) at squirrelstuff.com.
