What's the latest on the squirrels? Does your latest specialty-pole do something to prevent them from taking over the feeder?

Yeah, fuck the birds! More squirrel updates!

And treedrving! Treediving is good, provided no one is injured!

Repeat after me, "There is no such thing as a squirrel-proof bird feeder." I've pencilled into my bird book sightings of the common bushy-tailed flightless bird. It's so common that the other birds just ignore them unless the squirrels start hopping around.

My mother has 3 of the thistle socks (filled with niger/thistle) hanging under a tree which get an average of 30 goldfinches hanging around it all day...it gets kinda noisy with that many. If you have them just outside your window then be prepared to be woken up every morning at the very instant that the sun shows itself.

Rockn-Roll wrote on May 10, 2011, 11:15:
Repeat after me, "There is no such thing as a squirrel-proof bird feeder." I've pencilled into my bird book sightings of the common bushy-tailed flightless bird. It's so common that the other birds just ignore them unless the squirrels start hopping around.

Oh I know, and Blue appears to know as well.

But it's still fun reading about his efforts in the war against squirrels, or (another way) how he's aiding in the evolution / advancement of squirrel brains.


Sometimes I get the impression we'll read how they've learned fractal geometry to solve the latest-and-gratest "squirrel proof" feeders.

Millennium from now, when Squirrels are the dominant species, they'll have entire museums dedicated to man's "training devices" And they'll probably have a little plaque dedicated to "The Blue One"

Rockn-Roll wrote on May 10, 2011, 11:15:
Repeat after me, "There is no such thing as a squirrel-proof bird feeder." I've pencilled into my bird book sightings of the common bushy-tailed flightless bird. It's so common that the other birds just ignore them unless the squirrels start hopping around.

Well, we'll see. This one has a very long and wide cylinder for the seed, and a flat perch on the bottom on a spring that will give out under the weight of a squirrel, so it doesn't seem to offer them any access. It seems pretty fool-proof, but as has been noted, those squirrels are nobody's fools. I'll be happy if it just slows them down, as whenever one managed to thwart my other "squirrel-proof" feeder I would find him latched onto it like a leech, seemingly inhaling seed.

My mother has 3 of the thistle socks (filled with niger/thistle) hanging under a tree which get an average of 30 goldfinches hanging around it all day...it gets kinda noisy with that many. If you have them just outside your window then be prepared to be woken up every morning at the very instant that the sun shows itself.

This feeder is also for niger seed, with openings small enough that they don't pour out, in spite of being so tiny. I'm told the squirrels don't like that seed so much, so hopefully between that and limited access, they'll leave the finch feeder alone, as it has no squirrel defenses at all. As for noise, our yard gets pretty loud all summer, so I don't know this will be an issue, but I guess I won't be able to say for sure until it happens.

as whenever one managed to thwart my other "squirrel-proof" feeder I would find him latched onto it like a leech, seemingly inhaling seed.

Yeaaaaaaaa!

Rockn-Roll wrote on May 10, 2011, 11:15:
Repeat after me, "There is no such thing as a squirrel-proof bird feeder."

This contraption here is pretty close to being squirrel-proof. It's weight sensitive and clamps shut when a squirrel goes on the post.

Once in a blue moon a squirrel will contort themselves into a position where they can get the food, but it's usually by accident.

This comment was edited on May 14, 2011, 15:57.

But it's still fun reading about his efforts in the war against squirrels, or (another way) how he's aiding in the evolution / advancement of squirrel brains.

Millennium from now, when Squirrels are the dominant species, they'll have entire museums dedicated to man's "training devices" And they'll probably have a little plaque dedicated to "The Blue One"

I humbly welcome our bushy-tailed overlords.

It's weight sensitive and clamps shut when a squirrel goes on the post.

That sounds like my last feeder, which was responsible for a local squirrel obesity epidemic.

The feeder that probably would be the most effective was the one I couldn't bring myself to get. It has a battery-powered base that spins when too much weight is applied, which flings the squirrels, but this seemed far too potentially dangerous for my tastes (I'm still getting over the guilt of having killed that mulberry tree, and seeing the stump still hemorrhaging sap is not helping). Of course this doesn't bother everyone, as the bird-feeding store owner mentioned I wouldn't like hearing how many of his customers, like a certain crime-fighter who frequents this site, shoot the squirrels with BB guns. I just want them to leave some seed for the birds.

Regarding the Christian Bale link, I'm pretty sure Batman is Chaotic Good not Lawful Good.

Place it high up where they can leap to on on top of a greased pole they can't climb.

Can squirrels climb a completely smooth steel pole? Because I don't think they can. My birdfeeder is attached to a ten foot smooth steel pole, and I've never seen any damn squirrels in them, even though my area is infested with the little buggers. (it likely helps that there are no trees in my yard, though.)

Creston

Blue, you need that portal turret replica armed with a BB gun and programmed for squirrel targets.

Are you still there?.....There you are..... POW POW POW.

Creston wrote on May 10, 2011, 14:33:
Can squirrels climb a completely smooth steel pole? Because I don't think they can.

I was wondering the same thing.

Perhaps the pole needs to be wide enough so the squirrel can't "hug" the thing and climb that way... assuming they have enough upper-arm strength to "hug" hard enough to overcome the slick metal.

But as you said trees cause a problem: they'll perform various acrobatics to get to things so it would need to be far enough away that such an attempt would be deadly.