Those Darn Squirrels!

What annoys us birds more than an empty birdfeeder? A birdfeeder that has been ransacked by squirrels – and they’re doing it constantly!

Here are some ways you can help out your feathered friends by making it harder for squirrels to get at our grub:

1.    Baffle them: If you’re putting the birdfeeder on a pole, use a baffle. Many look like a large plastic dome suspended on the pole above the feeder, and it should help deter the critters from reaching our food.

2.    Get crafty: Try mounting the feeder on a long wire that extends from your house to a tree in your yard. Then, stick a bunch of stuff all along the wire…like empty plastic soda bottles, film canisters, hose pieces, spools of thread. Essentially, you’ll want to put any object on the wire that will make it difficult for them to get to the birdfeeder. The goal here is to get them to fall off the wire.

3.    Get slippy: If you’ve got birdfeeders on posts, make sure the posts are made from metal or PVC piping. The squirrels have a harder time getting up their smooth surfaces.

4.    Feed them: Sounds counterproductive, but sometimes if you put out food they really like, such as whole dried corn, in an easy-to-access feeder (something like a tray feeder), they don’t bother trying to get our food.

5.    Outsmart them: Get a squirrel-proof feeder. They work – and we birds love them!