Since I have spent a few hundred dollars repairing squirrel damage to my house the last two years, I try not to encourage squirrels by giving them extra food. This approach still does not address the problem of raccoons that can damage the feeder or drag it out into the woods where it can eat in private. These products involve all the complications of charging batteries and motors that may burn out and are costly to replace. They may involve battery powered motors that, when activated by a squirrel’s weight, spin the feeder perches and throw the squirrel off. Though I prefer the low-tech exclusion techniques to keep the squirrels and raccoons off my feeders, there are many other feeders on the market. All feeders must be cleaned regularly for the health of the birds. This tray has a retractable metal screen bottom for easy cleaning. Woodpeckers – downy and red-bellied – yellow-rumped warblers, yellow-throated warblers, Baltimore orioles, and a ruby-crowned kinglet go for the suet, a mixture of beef kidney fat and coarse cornmeal. In winter, ten chipping sparrows may be perched on the tray, eating the millet. The wooden tray has white proso millet and suet cakes. This feeder, set up at the author’s home, is completely squirrel and raccoon proof. Blue jays and titmice eat the peanut halves, which also have drawn a regular summer tanager. Cardinals love the sunflower chips, along with mourning dove and pine warblers (in winter). The plastic tray has sunflower chips, peanut halves, and white proso millet. These seeds are preferred by chickadees, titmice, goldfinch, and white breasted nuthatch. The tube is filled with a blend of black oil sunflower, sunflower chips (no hulls), and safflower seed. Twelve inches above the platform is a plastic tray feeder and from the center of it a tube type feeder. Sitting on top of the baffle is a wooden platform feeder. On the pole, place a stove pipe type raccoon baffle, the top of which must be four feet above the ground to prevent squirrels from leaping above it to the pole.Īt my home I use a metal pole with a stove pipe type raccoon baffle. You may use a seven-foot pole with multiple arms extending from which to hang feeders. A plastic tray or short stove pipe type baffles may be effective against squirrels, but if you have neighborhood raccoons, these baffles can easily be defeated by them. Placing the feeder on top of an easily installed metal pole with a raccoon baffle below it is very effective against squirrels and raccoons. The third method of protecting a feeder is my favorite. None of the above may prevent a raccoon from accessing the feeder. A large dome shaped squirrel guard may help, but only if nearby limbs are no closer than seven feet, since squirrels can jump six feet horizontally. If your tree is large and rather open, you may be able to hang it with six to eight feet of fine wire. If limbs are nearby, select a feeder that closes when a squirrel puts its weight on it. Hanging your feeder in a tree may present its own problems because limbs may be too close to the feeder. Pine warbler pulling a hulled sunflower seed from a tube feeder. Usually the pole is too short, or the hook is too close to the pole, allowing squirrels to hold on to the pole with their hind feet and rake out seed with their front feet even on a supposedly squirrel proof feeder. A shepherd’s hook may be the easiest but is the most difficult to make squirrel/raccoon proof. There are three main methods for mounting your bird feeder hang on a shepherd’s hook, hang in a tree, or place on top of a pole. First select the window best suited for viewing birds and then go outdoors to evaluate your landscape and how it may impact your choice of protecting your feeder from “tree rats” and “masked bandits”. January 25, 2019, Release for the Tallahassee DemocratĮvery yard and home is different, each presenting unique challenges for optimal bird feeder location. Guest Article for the Tallahassee Democrat Squirrel and Raccoon Proofing Your Bird Feeder Northern cardinal and American goldfinch dining at Native Nurseries’ squirrel and raccoon proof feeder.
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