Go Watch Birds

In a previous post I discussed the fact that people go through great pains to stop squirrels from eating their bird seed. The premise of my thought was that why would we stop squirrels from eating? This sounded cruel to me.

Well I had several conversations with people from around the country on this topic since posting this article. Now as you may or may not know, I live in Arizona. We have squirrels here but just not the quantity that people have in other parts of the country. I am originally from upstate New York so I am familiar with how many squirrels can live on a acre of land. I have lived in the desert southwest for twenty years so I guess I forgot.

I have since done some looking into what is involved with squirrel proofing your bird feeder.

So if left unprotected the squirrels will eat all your bird seed and you will be refilling your bird feeders daily. There are many options when squirrel proofing. First you can buy a bird feeder that is already “squirrel proof”. These squirrel proof bird feeders employ different strategies to keep the rodents out of your seeds. One of these feeders is a good selection if you don’t already have a bird feeders. If you already have a bird feeder that you are happy with but it does not have one of these features built in, then you can employ a squirrel baffle.

There are several different types of baffles. The idea behind these baffles are mostly the same. Squirrels are very acrobatic but if they can’t grab onto something they can’t climb. The baffles are all smooth and do not allow the squirrel to grasp the pool or chain that the bird feeders is attached. The idea is to create a barrier that will allow birds to fly past but the squirrels cannot climb past. You can look on youtube.com to find some very funny videos that show squirrels breaching these barriers. You can use these videos as a direction on how NOT to install the baffles.

I will have other articles on squirrel baffles in future posts, as I learn more about them. But for now, remember, the squirrels need to eat too.  Also they can be very entertaining to watch. My kids love to watch them run around the garden.

Filed under: Bird Feeders, Squirrel Proof on September 23rd, 2009