Tips to Prevent Squirrels From Raiding Your Bird Feeders
a.. If your feeder is on a pole, mount about a foot of aluminum duct tubing under it. The squirrels will climb the pole, encounter the duct and climb into it-but they'll have to retreat once they realize they have nowhere to go.

b.. Run your feeder pole lengthwise through the center of a slinky. Attach the slinky to top of the pole and let the rest of it hang. Squirrels will try to climb up the slinky, but will get dumped back down to the ground.

c.. Punch holes in the bottom of a few two-liter juice bottles, large enough to get around the post of your bird feeder. Hang them lengthwise, securing them a few inches below the feeder with duct tape-the squirrels will slide right off.

d.. Buy a clear plastic dome and place it directly above a hanging feeder. Squirrels planning a raid from the top of your feeder will slip right off-just make sure your feeder is high enough in the air to prevent ground assaults.

e.. Mount a feeder on top of a length of PVC pipe. Squirrels won't get any traction when they try to climb it, and will slide off.

f.. Some people wire their feeders with electricity to keep squirrels away-but this can be extremely dangerous. A safer alternative is a feeder with a built-in, battery-operated charger that gives invading squirrels a light shock without hurting them. The shock only triggers for four-legged visitors, so birds won't notice a difference.

g.. Buy a hanging feeder surrounded by wire screen. Small birds will be able to enter and feed, but larger bully birds and squirrels will be excluded.

h.. Switch from sunflower seeds to safflower seeds. The change in diet is popular with cardinals, house finches, chickadees, nuthatches and mourning doves, but the safflower doesn't appeal to squirrels.

i.. String wire through the tops and bottoms of two-liter plastic soda bottles, and hang bird feeders in between or in the middle. Squirrels walking the wire to get to the feeders will roll off when they step on the bottles.

If you don't mind furry visitors or want to do your part to accommodate squirrels, you can distract them away from bird feeders by setting aside a few dried corn cobs just for them. Impale the cobs lengthwise on spikes, then drive the spikes through a wooden board (so the cobs are perpendicular to the board). Attach the board to a tree limb or trunk where squirrels can reach the kernels.

These tips are from an article by George H. Harrison, National Wildlife magazine, December/January 2001, p. 16-17.

Tim Ryan

Dupont, WA

famryan at mybluelight.com