Birds in WI,MN need our help

[John A]

http://www.raptoreducationgroup.org/blog/2018/4/17/alert-bird-emergency
The spring birds are starving and freezing. I thought they were having a tough time but didn't realize how bad until I read this. Help out if you can

[StuCorpe]

Michigan also, the snow this April was bad for a lot of the birds.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Thanks for the reminder, John. This *has* been the winter from hell. I'll make sure the feeders are full yet tonight.

[Lannis]

Got a total of 6 feeders round our place.   I checked the records at the hardware store, and we bought 380 pounds of birdseed since September!   It's like having a chicken farm.   Surprised that the birds can waddle into the air.   (We figured out squirrel-proofing some years back).

But we REALLY enjoy hearing them all sing in the morning and evening, so it's worth it.

Lannis

[guzziownr]

  (We figured out squirrel-proofing some years back).
Lannis

We have fat squirrels and skinny birds.  Divulge your secrets!

DW

[Chuck in Indiana]

We have fat squirrels and skinny birds.  Divulge your secrets!

DW

Fortunately, we don't have squirrels here, but I've never seen a squirrel proof feeder either.
Fess up, Lannis.. 

[Lannis]

We have fat squirrels and skinny birds.  Divulge your secrets!

DW

I'll take a few pictures tomorrow.   Amazingly enough, none of the secrets involve compressed air, gunpowder, rubber slings, or projectiles.   We hunt squirrels all the time in the woods outside the "DMZ" near the feeders (I hate to think that I'm 'baiting them in'), but we resort to passive technology around the house.

We had a big problem until we realized what squirrels could and could not do.   Even today, you can see them eyeing the feeders, sizing up distances, likelihood of making a landing, etc but they've quit trying and just settle for what's on the ground, which is quite a bit; birds are sloppy eaters, and will spray seeds all over the place to get to one that they particularly want, the greedy little ... well ... it's OK, because some birds like Cardinals would RATHER eat off the ground than from a feeder, maybe they feel less guilty about taking a "hand up" ....

Lannis

[fotoguzzi]

My dads feeder is electrified.. every once in a while a new squirrel tries it and the little shock jolts him right off the deck. I have an electric cattle fence transformer I've been thinking of rigging up the same sort of device when I put up a new feeder.

[John A]

I hang my bird proof squirrel feeders from sections of brazing rod at least about fourty eight inches long. A squirrel can make it almost to the feeder which either has an inverted bell or something where he can't get a grip before he has to bail. Of course there is a determined squirrel that gets there somehow so I grease the rod. Great fun. Yesterday I put out some raw fat trimmings on the ground for whoever wanted it. The dog couldn't stand it so he slipped his collar and got to it before anybody noticed. I threatened to beat him but he didn't care. Typical dog.

[Lannis]

Fortunately, we don't have squirrels here, but I've never seen a squirrel proof feeder either.
Fess up, Lannis.. 

Here 'tis, then.

For squirrels and bird feeders, this is what works for me.

Caveat – this is here in rural Virginia where there is some hunting pressure on squirrels, but on the other hand there are hundreds of acres for them to roam.   Before I settled on these solutions it seemed impossible to keep the squirrels out of the feeders – they could perform feats of climbing, leaping, and agility that almost had me in despair.   But these three methods finally got them. 

We feed about 80 pounds/month through 6 feeders, 4 of which are pictured here (the others are similar).   We have not seen a squirrel get successful access to one in two years now.

1) “Make it Too Far to Jump” -



I hung a thin steel wire about 15 – 20’ off the ground to a branch – the feeder hangs about 5 feet off the ground.   (No squirrel can leap 5’ from the ground and grab a feeder).    When I first hung the wire, I had a platform feeder on the end.    Squirrels would climb the tree, take aim, and make a banzai leap to the platform from about 12’ away.   Two times out of three, they would hit the feeder and hang on successfully as it wildly swung around, then start wallowing in birdseed.    When I changed it to a simple tube feeder, they couldn’t hang on any more.   I saw one or two try when I first put it up, but they were just about hurting themselves trying to do it; there’s nothing they can really hang on to, and they can’t shinny down the wire.

2) “Make it Too Hard to Climb”





Squirrels have some trouble climbing thin metal poles.   If you combine that with a bit of axle grease, and a cone-shaped squirrel shield, AND in a location that they can’t leap to from a roof or a tree branch, they can’t make it.   New generations of squirrels actually give these a try every once in a while.   Sometimes in the middle of winter, if the grease needs reapplying, they can struggle up the pole to a point under the shield.   The metal shield has a seam that they then try to leap to and catch with their front claws, in hopes of pulling themselves on top of the shield.   They never make it – they can’t get a good enough leap from the greased pole.   The plastic shield has no seam, and they don’t even try it.   I definitely recommend the plastic shield, also because of its shape (more convex).

3) “She Blinded Me  With Science”





We who possess opposable thumbs can make mechanisms.   Very often, the spring-loaded “squirrel-proof” feeders that react when the squirrel climbs onto it don’t work.   We went through several of them before we found this one.   For some reason, where other “squirrel-proof” feeders fail, this one does not.   The squirrel’s weight pulls down the hole-blocker, and it’s stout enough that he can’t pry it back and get to the seed.    I think the word has gotten around, because although this one is right in front of our kitchen window and we can see it any time we’re downstairs, we never even see a squirrel try it any more; before we got this one, and just had the tube feeder that’s hanging from the wire in the first photo here, there were squirrels all over it, emptying it in a few minutes sometimes.

I don’t guarantee results among clever, tough, cunning, street-wise New York squirrels who make their living raiding pizza parlors that launder Family money …..



but it works for us!

[Gliderjohn]

From Chuck:

but I've never seen a squirrel proof feeder either.

I have had one. It is battery powered and when something heavier than most birds gets in the perch it spins fast. It is great entertainment.
GliderJohn