Squirrel proof - I think

Clever, huh? The platform on the clothesline post in the background is one of the stands where the squirrels feed.

 It has taken me much of the summer, but I think I have come up with a squirrel-proof feeding station. Let me repeat, I THINK. Nothing is completely squirrel proof, the experts say. But I am testing that theory.

 My new setup: the ol' line-and-baffle system.

 I waited for a couple of weeks for a scavenger buddy of mine to find some wire long enough. But he couldn't, at least wire that he didn't want to sell to the salvage yard.

  So I went to Lowe's and bought 50 feet of nylon cord. At $2.50, it was cheap enough. I had some PCV pipe, so I took that and a few plastic soda bottles for baffles.

               I stretched all of this over about 30 feet, between a light post and a pine, 8 feet up - no low-hanging limbs. I hung the feeders between the baffles and waited.

 

               After about a week of trying, one brave squirrel, studied, calculated, and went back to his nest to do a detailed engineering diagram no doubt. Then he gave it his best effort. He swiftly and acrobatically covered about 10 feet of cord, recoiled and actually hurdled about 4 feet of the baffling, grabbing the cord on the other side with his little front feet. Then he shimmied up and was on the tube feeder.

 

               Wow! I've got a Flying Wallenda here.

  But I wasn't finished, no I wasn't. I had heard of using old record albums as baffles, so I dug up a couple of old 78s - Stokowski, Wagner. (That's Vaagner, if you're saying it. And no, I couldn't sell them on eBay. I tried.)

               I strung the albums on the outside of each set of baffles.

               It has been two weeks and no squirrel has dared. Oh, they will. They're planning and plotting this very moment.

    And yes, I'm feeding them. They have their own little stands for eating. It's just that they're on a diet now; they're not going through 20 pounds of sunflower seed in a week.

               The birds have more undisturbed time at the feeders. That should continue for a while, at least. I think.

Here's what I saw at the feeders today:

(PM, 82 degrees, partly cloudy, 15 minutes)

House Finch

Brown Thrasher

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Northern Cardinal

Carolina Chickadee

Tufted Titmouse

Red-winged Blackbird

Brown-headed Nuthatch