We received this SquirrelBuster Plus bird feeder as a gift last year but just got the hanger for it this past weekend. It didn’t take the birds any time at all to find it and as you can see the food level is down appreciably in three days. So far we’re regularly visited by chickadees, cardinals, and tutfted titmouse and occasionally by a couple I haven’t identified yet. Of course it was no surprise when the squirrels turned up. While we are using high quality bird seed with no filler some of the birds are picky and just toss things to the ground. One of the squirrels seemed quite content to collect what he could find. The other was far more daring as you can see from this photo. That is a tufted titmouse in the background. (Photo was taken through a window.)
Edit: I have nothing against squirrels eating, if they can get the food out more power to them, but I do want the birds to get their fair share. I have no proof of this yet, but I suspect the design flaw of this feeder will be that just swinging it from the top will cause seed to drop out of the holes. The way it is intended to stop squirrels (and anything heavier than a certain weight) from taking food is that the entire perch drops and shuts off access to the food. I found on the first day that I had set the weight too low because it closed when a cardinal landed on it. Compared to birds a squirrel weighs quite a lot, but how much difference is there between a big blue jay and a cardinal?
Mullery
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November 30, 2006 at 9:01 pm |
Squirrels are remarkable. I ve seen them work as a team to swing stuff you would think is impossible to reach!
Well, they do live in tress, can run along electrical wires, nature’s greatest athlete’s?
Neath
December 1, 2006 at 11:45 am |
Photographers moment – beter than mission impossible series!
December 27, 2006 at 9:46 am |
I just love this picture. I got one of these feeders for Christmas. You will have to tell me the tricks to it. I was thinking about getting a squirrel guard to put on top. My mom has been feeding the birds for years and says they help keep the rain out too. Hopefully keep the squirrels out as well. Although the squirrels do seem to liven it up a bit, hopefully they don’t knock it off. I hope I can get as many birds as you. Sounds like you have quite the variety. I’m hoping for some cardinals. Maybe you can send some my way
December 27, 2006 at 11:02 am |
Thanks Christy. So far even with as many as three squirrels out there we haven’t seen the feeder be compromised. The only damage they have done is to leave teeth marks in the top around the hanger. That’s teeth marks through the paint and in the metal! They largely seem to have given up. we are getting a good variety of birds including cardinals, goldfinch, chickadees, nuthatches, titmouse, and some bird that only pokes around on the ground that looks like a junko but could be the winter color of some other bird. The cardinals go for the black sunflower seed and the titmouse seem to prefer peanuts. We got a nice mix from the store in Somersworth in the plaza with Uno.