In squirrel news there has been no squirrel news.
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@stephanie My first experience trying to hold them off was a work office overlooking bird feeder on a pole. I put grease on the pole and sure enough they'd try to climb up, slide right off. But enough squirrels trying that and pretty soon all of the grease is gone.
The flying leap reminds me of the friendly neighborhood squirrel at my parent's house.
There was a birdfeeder tray outside a window. There was also a large redcedar tree nearby. The squirrel learned to launch itself from a branch above and to the side of the window. Instead of aiming for the tray, it aimed for the side of the house so it could ricochet at just the right angle to land on the tray. We'd hear "thunk!" and there would be the squirrel on the feeder.
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Looks like one layer of a kinetic art project.
@isol Yes, someone was inspired by the wooden kinetic art of David C. Roy I think. It worked pretty well until getting hit by something and falling off the wall.
https://www.youtube.com/@DavidCRoy/videos
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@jerzone Yeah and sadly, it can be bad for the birds with the grease!
Our weight controlled feeder, and our caged feeders have been the only thing that have worked so far. You can't outsmart them lol
@stephanie that sounds like a challenge! ';^)
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The flying leap reminds me of the friendly neighborhood squirrel at my parent's house.
There was a birdfeeder tray outside a window. There was also a large redcedar tree nearby. The squirrel learned to launch itself from a branch above and to the side of the window. Instead of aiming for the tray, it aimed for the side of the house so it could ricochet at just the right angle to land on the tray. We'd hear "thunk!" and there would be the squirrel on the feeder.
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In squirrel news there has been no squirrel news. Somehow they've been avoiding letting me see how they get to the feeder. If you can't see a security hole it's hard to fix it.
That was until just now.
Turns out the new technique is to try crawling around the "shield", which never works, and then just let go and trust in the almighty squirrelly grip. That's right, the squirrel falls on purpose and madly grabs at the air while going by feeder roost in the hopes of snagging it. Which, it turns out, they've gotten really good at.@jerzone You can't win against these squirrels.
Look at this one: managed to losen the lid and just sits in the feeder, safe and filled up.
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@jerzone Me, trying to fish that last Hersey's Nugget out of the bag.
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In squirrel news there has been no squirrel news. Somehow they've been avoiding letting me see how they get to the feeder. If you can't see a security hole it's hard to fix it.
That was until just now.
Turns out the new technique is to try crawling around the "shield", which never works, and then just let go and trust in the almighty squirrelly grip. That's right, the squirrel falls on purpose and madly grabs at the air while going by feeder roost in the hopes of snagging it. Which, it turns out, they've gotten really good at.@jerzone as much as I’ve come to loathe Mark Rober his video on squirrels doing anything to defeat his America Ninja Warrior squirrel defense course made me realize that the only true defense is to take off and nuke the site from orbit.
But because this has nothing obvious drawbacks maybe the old lace the seed with chili flakes? Although maybe in a few generations they’ll be drink pints of lager and attacking your channa masala or Texas chili
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@jerzone You can't win against these squirrels.
Look at this one: managed to losen the lid and just sits in the feeder, safe and filled up.@canyakker It's a hard, cold fact of nature
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@canyakker It's a hard, cold fact of nature
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@canyakker It's a hard, cold fact of nature
@jerzone @canyakker @xtaran Is this a red-tailed hawk feeder now??
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