The odds look good that a nice-sized Northern Cardinal flock plans to spend the winter in our neighborhood. I’m seeing more cardinals than usual at my feeders this fall, and at dusk there are already sometimes as many as 8 or 9 of the birds at the feeders at the same time.
Sometimes cardinals join flocks flying overhead, so the birds I’m seeing now may not be the exact same ones I’ll see during the winter months.
Last week on an unusually-warm, late-October day, a cardinal landed in the Mulberry bush next to my window and proceeded to “whisper” his spring breeding song over and over again. It was so sweet and earnest, but so quiet that I’m sure I was probably the only human that heard it.
Cardinals like to forage for food and insects on the ground. They’ll visit feeders—particularly hopper or platform feeders, but you may not see them except at dawn and dusk. At my feeders cardinals prefer sunflower and safflower seeds, and they will also eat peanuts.
Cardinals are year-round residents in the United States from the plains to the East Coast.