Subject: RE: Squirrels
Date: Jun 17 08:01:18 1997
From: "Ray Congdon (MSMAIL)" - raycon at WRALP.com


Over the weekend I put up two nest boxes, one for a Chickadee, the other
a Downy Woodpecker. I purchased some 10'6" metal fence poles, approx. 1
3/4" diameter. I set the poles in the ground about 2', leaving 8' above
ground. The reason I did this is because this past year I had a
Chickadee house attached to a tree in my backyard. I had begun to notice
that there were no birds coming or going to the box. I went out to check
out what was happening. I discovered an abandoned nest with a clutch of
8. The eggs were cold. I watched for several days, nothing. I removed
the nest & the eggs, hoping another pair would use the box. No luck. I
began to ask around, why this would happen. The general consensus was
that something had scared this pair from the box. The squirrels had
spent quite a bit of time sitting on top of this nest box. Back to my
original story. This morning, I observed one of the squirrels climbing
this 8' metal pole & sit on top of the bird box : > (

>----------
>From: Christy Anderson[SMTP:christya at gte.net]
>Sent: Monday, June 16, 1997 10:12 PM
>To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
>Subject: Re: Squirrels
>
>I have had good luck with the squirrel baffles that look like black stove
>pipes and hang on a ring fastened tightly around the pole the feeder is on.
>Although my yard is wooded, there is enough open space that I can put the
>pole feeders far enough away that the squirrels can't jump on the feeders,
>and they can't climb the poles. I've had them for several years, and never
>had a squirrel in any of my pole feeders. (Knock on wood! I don't want to
>tempt fate!)
>
>I also have a metal feeder with one of the spring loaded "porches" that
>drop to cover the seed supply with any weight heavier than you set it for.
>It works OK most of the time, but since it's just on my deck rail, the
>squirrels come up to clean up the seed underneath it, and occasionally,
>they have succeeded in getting on the moving trap gently enough that it
>doesn't go down, and they can pig out. I also saw a mouse on it once. So
>I'd stick with the pole feeders and the metal tubular baffles.
>
>