Squirrel Proof Bird Feeders

[BeowulfIII]

I need squirrel proof bird feeders to keep squirrels from stealing my birds food. I set my birdfeeder up on the weekend, it is a platform that I nailed on top of a fence post. Since then I have had blue tits, wrens, robins, blackbirds and large pigeon-esque birds with white collars that I am trying to identify but are very shy. It has been fantastic to see the birdlife come so close to the house and out of the larger trees further out the back.

Unfortunately, after never seeing a grey squirrel before in my garden, they are there every time I look and in numbers feeding from the platform... I even saw two or three this morning on the feeder and fighting whilst the birds just sat in the trees and watched.

They are seriously acrobatic so I cant see hanging the platform from any of the small trees in my backyard being effective. I have enjoyed a squirrel-free backyard (I thought) for some time and would like to keep it that way but also do not want to give up the bird platform.

Any humane ideas of getting rid of the suckers?

[Gill Catton]

There are a number of squirrel proof bird feeders and tables on the market but in the short term you could try scattering chilli powder over the food - doesn't bother the birds but most squirrels hate it (though some apparently get used to it after a while). A slippery metal sheet nailed up around the fence post might help or you can buy collars for such supporting posts that help deter squirrels but maybe thy'd be able to jump from something else avoiding the fencepost completely?

[overgrownbramble]

In my experience, if you go out and buy special squirrel food and a dedicated squirrel feeder (so they leave the bird food available to the birds), you never see them from that day on!

[Kymba]

As long as you have feeders out and Squirrels you wont get rid of them... What you can do is scatter peanuts and seeds on the floor for the squirrels to forage for.. this keeps them occupied and leaves the feeders for the birds... I put down wood chippings and use to twice daily scattered peanut in and out of their shells ( they tend to take monkey nuts in their shells and find places to bury them)...I use to sit for ages wathcing them searching for the nuts and found it really entertaianing and relaxing.....Also making them forage is making them do what they do in the wild....

[smartie]

I do put peanuts and bits of fruit on the ground for the squirrels and they take those away and bury them then come back to eat the sunflower seeds from the bird feeders. An attempt to get them to eat the special squirrel food was a total failure. Only the magpies will eat that

Not knowing the height and location of your table it's difficult to advise. You can grease the pole or put up a baffle if they are climbing that, and you can get some curved plastic canopies to put over the table that make it more difficult for the squirrels to jump down on to it from a handy tree. But they are inventive souls and may get round whatever you try.

I have five squirrels who feed in the garden every day. I've finally just given up worrying about it. They and the birds seem to work round each other OK.

What colour is your pigeon -type bird apart from the white on its neck? Have you ruled out wood pigeon?

[Kymba]

I think you should just sit back and enjoy both the birds and the squirrels, as smartie said they will both sort things out between themselves and just get on with it....I use to get up to 15 squirrels in my garden along with a variety of Birds such as tits, magpies, jays, crows, Robins, jenny wrens, blackbirds with occassional woodpecker, and other species... Plus a family of foxes and two hedgehogs....( If i had owned the flat rather then rented it i would never of moved)..Also no matter what you try the squirrels will eventually find a way around it

[BeowulfIII]

Sounds like a helluva flat Kymba! The consensus seems to be to take a fatalistic approach to the squirrels.

Wood pigeon is my unidentified pigeon-esque creature for sure smartie thanks, I note from the google that they are extremly common but am new to the birding world. I figure start at the garden, identify everything and get the binoculars and camera in order, and then expand to reserves etc.

The collar wont work as it is a fence post in the middle of an actual fence, I will post a picture. The problem with just enjoying the squirrels is that the platform is directly above a vegetable garden that I am hopeful of producing a bumper crop from this year. If more and more squirrels are around, they will be more likely to clean up the vegies plus I have trouble enjoying their presence as much given they are not native, more like opportunist invaders rather than interesting parts of a british ecosystem.

[Kymba]

It was BeowulfIII..But we couldnt afford the London price to buy it (£175k for 2 bed flat) but i really miss living there..
And I really adore the grey squirrel.. I had one that use to ignore all food in garden..and come across ground floor flats garden up onto their Extension up slopped roof onto our kitchen window sill as soon as you came into the room and he'd tap on the window and wait for me to give him monkey nuts which he took really gently...after a few months of waiting on the roof two jays for some of the nuts they started to come onto window sill when he went to hide his nuts to get their share...So I would personally love a garden of grey squirrels again alongside the birds...

[smartie]

I took the same approach to birding as you are proposing when I took it up seriously last spring. I find it amazing to see how far I have come in that time - with the help of WAB members of course - in spotting what is there and identifying the birds that I see and hear. But, since I have a very, very long way to go still, I have found it invaluable to carry a pocket sized field guide with me whenever I go out (except to the supermarket, where I saw a bird today I couldn't identify) I know Collins is the acknowledged bible, but I have the RSPB pocket field guide and it does go nicely in my pocket and helps me when I see something new. I used to be a bit furtive about consulting it in public, but I'm better now

[BeowulfIII]

Ive decided to just let them be from now on and buy some squirrel feed to throw on the ground with other ground food. The wood pigeons have stayed around and in four days, the little blue tits and robins have gone through 4 fat balls.