Enthusiastic watchers of backyard birds can see the value of bird feeders as an integral part of the backyard scenery.. The drawback of offering most of these food dispensers is that they can certainly be attractive to squirrels. When you want success at feeding wild birds, you must check out a squirrel proof bird feeder , or two. Before going any further, it is worthwhile focusing on what we know about squirrel behavior.

Squirrels are agile, bold and persistent. They are rodents; consequently their teeth never stop growing and adults call for up to two pounds of food per week. They are good at scaling a wide range of materials, such as brickwork. The harder the accessibility to food, the more they turn into ninja squirrels - truly clever acrobats. They are hardly ever beaten, yet they can be discouraged and diverted.

Give thought to the most effective feeder styles and optimal location in your backyard - at all times bearing in mind that squirrels are able to leap up to ten feet across a gap, leap as high as five feet off the ground and are happy falling eleven feet from a height!

Feeders can either be suspended or mounted on a pole. You could decide to suspend them from an isolated branch of a deciduous tree (which has less thick foliage than pine trees) or you might consider suspending them from a line in between two trees (although doing this makes refilling relatively difficult). Make sure you hang from a metal chain or wire and hook, otherwise the squirrels might gnaw through the cord to cause the feeder to fall .

A great squirrel guard is a squirrel baffle . Produced from either plastic or metal, it makes an umbrella above both suspended and pole-mounted bird feeders. The squirrels simply slide off them. Baffles could also be put about four feet above the ground beneath pole-mounted feeders - lubricating the pole with Vaseline will also be effective.

Caged bird feeders are a great option as they permit small backyard birds access to the food, whilst excluding squirrels and larger birds also.

You could opt for more high tech squirrel proof bird feeders. They are triggered by weight. Whenever a squirrel lands on one, a spring system causes a metal shield to fall around the feeder or the feeder’s perches give way. Yet another, which is also very funny to view, has a battery-driven motor that spins the squirrel (harmlessly) off it.

Squirrels consume a huge variety of foods, but yet another way to keep them away is to offer the birds safflower seed, thistle seed (niger), and /or pure suet (without seed), since they are simply not particularly keen on them.

Of course, you could look at this challenge from a totally different angle and buy some squirrel feeders - complete with trapeze, tightrope and springboard. You can easily give squirrels their preferred foods in return for them staging a splendid circus show for you. So when they are sidetracked, the birds can have a meal also - everyone wins.

To be honest, squirrels will always be a component of our backyard gardens, and when combined with strategic setting up of bird feeder types, positioning and types of bird food, we can guarantee not only that your backyard birds get what they deserve but also that we are amused by cheeky squirrel tricks.

Bookmark to: