You love the sight of birds in your backyard, especially cardinals, so you want them to spend time around your home. One of the best ways to welcome feathered friends to your yard is to install a backyard bird feeder. What is the best kind of bird feeder for cardinals?
The Yankee Whipper from Droll Yankees is one option as a best bird feeder for cardinals.
Why Cardinals Love This Bird Feeder
If you have hungry birds in your area, then you need the Yankee Whipper bird feeder. This large feeder can hold up to five pounds of seed. Unlike with smaller units, you may not have make sure to refill the Yankee Whipper with bird food on a daily basis. This means that your local birds are less likely to show up for a meal and find your feeder empty.
What Do Cardinal Birds Like To Eat?
In addition, this unit has four feeding stations, so multiple cardinals can enjoy dinner at the same time. You may attract more birds to your yard since they know they’ll always have a chance to find a quick bite to eat at your house.
How Do You Attract Cardinals to a New Feeder?
Cardinals particularly enjoy eating seeds, such as sunflower seeds. That makes this feeder an ideal choice since it was designed with sunflower-seed dispensing in mind.
What is the Best Kind of Bird Feeder for Cardinals?
The perches on a Whipper are designed especially for a cardinal’s enjoyment. On most feeders, the posts stick straight out. When a bird sits on a straight post, the food source is to the bird’s left or right.
On the Whipper, however, the curved arms allow birds to face the feeder openings. That’s a quality that cardinals, in particular, appreciate.
Despite the cardinal-friendly design, other birds will enjoy using the Yankee Whipper feeder as well. A variety of small songbirds can sit on the feeder’s perches.
These include:
- Grosbeaks.
- Jays.
- Chickadees.
- Wrens.
- Sparrows.
- Finches.
Squirrels and The Droll Yankees Bird Feeder
Although this bird feeder is ideal for cardinals and other backyard birds, your neighborhood squirrels won’t be able to stop by for a snack so easily. This feeder is designed especially for deterring squirrels. If you’ve ever gone through a whole pile of birdseed in a just a few hours because squirrels gobbled it all up, then you’ll appreciate the design of this cardinal feeder.
The curved perches are spring-loaded. They’re designed to hold the weight of small songbirds but not the heft of a squirrel. If a squirrel tries to sit on one, the perch will collapse under its weight. After the squirrel lets go, the perch will pop back into place.
Some bird feeders that claim to be squirrel-proof allow sneaky squirrels to get to the birdseed by hanging from the top of the unit. That’s not as easy with the Yankee Whipper, thanks to its impressive size. The feeder is long enough and wide enough that even acrobatic squirrels won’t find it easy to get to the food.
Squirrels can’t dig seed out of the top either. The bird feeder’s heavy lid fits tightly, so critters can’t pry it off.
Not only does the design of this bird feeder keep squirrels from stealing the food, but it also discourages large birds from visiting. The spring-loaded perches bend downward whenever animals that weigh more than 2 ounces land on them. Big birds may still be able to hold on long enough to grab some food now and then, but they’ll typically seek out other food sources.
Comparison Chart
Droll Yankees 21964205201 787461785928 Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder, Yankee Whipper, 28-Inch, 4 P, Evening Blue
Essential Details About the Yankee Whipper
If you’re thinking about purchasing a Yankee Whipper bird feeder for the cardinals in your area, here’s what you need to know
Product Details:
- Feeder tube measurements: 4.75 inches x 17 inches.
- Measurement at the widest part: 8.3 inches.
- Full length: 28 inches.
- Weight: Approximately 12 pounds.
- Feeder tube material: UV-stabilized polycarbonate that resists yellowing.
- Other material: Powder-coated metal.
- Hanger: Stainless steel wire.
- Color: Dark blue.
- Capacity: 5 pounds.
- Warranty: Lifetime warranty on body and 1-year warranty on perch.
How to Use The Yankee Whipper
To fill the feeder, remove the metal cap, and pour in your seed of choice. An internal baffle funnels the seed into the feeding ports. This system ensures that all four openings receive an equal portion of seed.
When hanging the bird feeder, place it at least 14 inches away from any surface that a squirrel could use as a support when trying to access the food. The farther that the bird feeder is from a support surface, the farther a smaller rodent will have to leap in order to land on the feeder.
Take care to clean your feeder with dish soap and water regularly. Otherwise, it could harbor harmful germs. Occasionally, sanitize it with a mixture of equal amounts of vinegar and water. To avoid damage, never soak the feeder, and always rinse it with clear water right away. Be sure to dry the unit thoroughly before refilling it.
Cardinal Bird Feeder Alternatives
Although the curved posts on the Yankee Whipper make this an excellent choice for the best cardinal bird feeder, you might want to consider one of Yankee Droll’s other similar units.
Yankee Dipper
- Yankee Dipper: This red feeder is very similar to the Whipper, but its spring-loaded posts are straight.
Yankee Tipper
- Yankee Tipper: This black unit has a weight-sensitive feeding platform instead of spring-loaded perches.
Yankee Flipper
- Yankee Flipper: This is a motorized feeder with a perch ring. When a squirrel lands on this green bird feeder, the ring gently spins until the animal falls.
If you want to attract cardinals and songbirds to your yard, you need a quality cardinal bird feeder. The Yankee Whipper is an elegant yard decoration with which you can welcome cardinals and deter pesky squirrels.