On a related note, re: squirrels and barriers.

I have had baffles on my pole feeders for several years. They are the can
type, that hang on a collar attached to the pole and resemble a length of
stove pipe. The squirrel can climb up inside the baffle, but when he reaches
the top, he is trapped inside and can't go any further. No squirrel has ever
been able to figure these out. I considered them fool proof and recommended
them to others.

Well, I must have the Einstein of squirrels in my yard. One has figured out
how to beat the system. Somehow, he discovered he could get inside the
baffle and push up on the top of it and sometimes it would ride up the pole
a little bit. He kept pushing at it until he had the bottom edge above the
collar. And if he then shoved it to one side, the bottom edge would catch on
the collar, and voila! It would stay stuck in that posistion at least for
awhile. And from that high on the pole, he could reach the sunflower feeder
and swing onto it!!!

I caught him in the feeder several times, and thought he was jumping from a
shrub, because the baffle had slipped down by then. But when I moved the
feeder, he still got in. Finally, one day I caught him in the act, and saw
how he was doing it. I was amazed. My husband fastened a second collar on
the pole above the baffle to keep it from sliding up. The squirrel is
conitnuing to try to push the baffle up, and when I watched him, I couldn't
believe how much force he was using. He has actually pushed the second
collar up about 4 inches!

This is one determined beast!



Christy Anderson
Bellevue WA




>From: Doug Plummer <2doug at dougplummer.com>
>To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
>Subject: [Tweeters] Halo update
>Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 09:57:40 -0800
>
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