#6 Caterpillars

The breeding season for cardinals is summer, which is also the season that is mostly full of insects and when caterpillars start to make their presence known more often than not. While these songbirds are known to eat mostly seeds and parts of various plants (they are very fond of spring flowers like redbud and forsythia), during the summer they switch to insects due to how rich in proteins they are.

Moreover, once the little ones hatch, they will be flying all over the place so that they can gather caterpillars to feed them. A good way to make sure that cardinals are going to stay even after the season, especially if they have made a nest in your garden, is to provide them with easy access to insects.

Simply adding some caterpillars to known host plants will do the trick; you can add them to milkweed, fennel, coneflowers, dill, and even parsley, or directly to your garden beds and container plantings. The insect will eat a few leaves here and there, but they will be gone before they can cause any serious damage because they will be caught by birds!

If you are not willing to risk purposefully adding caterpillars to your plants, at least make sure you do not use pesticides against them. That way the larvae will still be present, and all your backyard birds will be happy!