The squirrels are hungry.
I know that – but this winter has been plenty warm enough that they shouldn’t have to be chowing down on all our birdseed! Yet, there they are every morning swinging from the feeders, hanging upside down or sitting in the seed trays, joyously dining at the “Jones’ Bird Cafe”. For them, it’s the easiest meal in the neighborhood, so why not?
I know we’re not alone in the struggle to keep squirrels out of the bird feeders. It’s an ongoing battle for many people that enjoy feeding and watching the birds and it has prompted many bird feeder manufacturers to get pretty creative in the fight against squirrel invaders. The innovations they have come up with vary from feeders surrounded by wire cages to feeders where the food ports are closed off when a squirrel climbs onto them to feeders with perches that spin and flip the squirrels off the feeder (that’s a fun one!).
A Tufted Titmouse feeds at one of the mended "squirrel proof" feeders.
My mom and dad also have a hard time trying to feed the birds at their home in Vermont. Between the bears and squirrels, it’s been quite a challenge. They had some great squirrel-proof feeders but unfortunately they weren’t bear-proof! Hungry bears just pushed the feeders over and popped them open to get at the seed. They even came up on the deck at night and attacked the one that was hanging from the deck railing! Mom and Dad quickly learned that they needed to wait until later in the winter when they were sure the bears had gone into hibernation to safely put out their feeders.
This year Mom got two NEW squirrel-proof feeders for Christmas. These are tube feeders called the “SquirrelBuster Classic” made by Brome Bird Care. The tube is surrounded by a wire shroud with openings that line up with the seed ports. The lightweight birds can sit on the perches or hang from the wire shroud to feed but as soon as a squirrel gets on the feeder, its weight lowers the shroud to completely cover access to the seed ports. Ha! Foiled! This is a great design that works very well. The squirrels get quite frustrated!
Oh Boy! A new feeder filled with lots of sunflower seeds!
Now as for those other squirrel-proof feeders that were all bent up and broken by the bears, my husband Eric, ever the scrounger, asked Mom if he could have them to see if he could fix them. She was more than happy to have them out of their garage. With some work, my resourceful husband was able to beat and bend them back into working order. He also modified the mounts so they could be attached to our deck railing in a location that was convenient for watching the birds over our morning coffee.
It took the birds a little time to warm up to these new feeders once they were out and filled with seed, but it certainly didn’t take long for the squirrels to discover them.
That’s when the fun began …
Hey, wait a minute - where did the seeds go?
I know they're in there - I can smell them!
What's going on here - where are my seeds!
Oh man - I can see them in there!
Harrumph! I think I'm foxed!
What a riot! Those silly squirrels were very persistent but the feeder did its job and they just couldn’t figure out a way to get to the seed. They still haven’t managed to get in – much to our delight! It must frustrate them terribly especially when they see the birds merrily eating from the seed tray. At this point they don’t even seem to try anymore especially since there are three other feeders that they can easily steal all the food from. Well, at least we know these two feeders will always have some food for the birds!
Maybe I need to ask for a SquirrelBuster for Christmas this year! But I always want to keep at least one squirrel-friendly feeder around. Those clowns are really fun to watch, too!
Until next time – Happy Gardening!
My squirrels just hang upside down on my “squirrel-proof” feeder so as not to press down the bar that shuts off their access to the seed! They are much too smart!! UGH!!
Well, I’m sure eventually they will figure out how to get in this one, too. Luckily they haven’t – yet! Maybe you could try the Squirrel Buster. From the way is designed, I don’t think squirrels can hang from the top and get at the seed without closing the ports. It might be worth a try! Thanks for reading my blog!
We all know squirrels love peanuts and so do some birds. What I do to keep from having a mess of seed hulls on the ground and feed both the squirrels and birds is get a jar of crunchy or EXTRA CRUNCHYPeanut Butter, cut the bottom of the jar off with a knife and stick a long S-shaped hook thru the jar and hang it from a tree branch. I find the squirrels love it and so do the woodpeckers and other birds. (P.S. I use a tall ladder to hang it and all my bird feeders from trees so the neighborhood cats have a harder time getting to the birds)
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing!