Feeding the birds and NOT the tree-rats!

[a nameless entity]

I have a pair of those two footed solid rod-steel poles that have two shepherd's hooks on them. The second foot steadies the pole, and a second hook allows for a second bird feeder. It's nice to have a second feeder since the birds will squabble over perching rights, even though the inexpensive plastic feeders I bought are eight sided octogons. I bought two sets at $49 each for a pole and two cheap feeders, one for the living room window, and one set for the kitchen window.

The birds like sunflower seeds the best, but so do the squirrels.
On the advice of my brother I switched to safflower seeds. The squirrels won't eat those. But I found that I lost the goldfinches, junkos, woodpeckers, and chickadees, amoungst others. And safflower seed is usually around $1 a pound minimum IF you buy a 50 lb bag. So in later years I was often taking down the feeders once summer started.

This spring I put the feeders up and let the squirrels eat their fill of sunflower seeds because I noticed that they were eating the budding leaves on my shag bark hickory tree. Once I switched to safflower seeds I once again lost the majority of visitors to my feeders.

So I decided to look into "squirrel proof" bird feeders. There are some good ideas out there, but they are all so expensive! And the tree rats are often able to defeat the "squirrel proofing" by hanging off the side and scooping out the seeds.

I found an all steel type that closes access to the seed if a squirrel puts its weight onto the metal perch. It has mixed reviews. But it is far cheaper than some other brands that use plastics or acrylics for the body of the feeder.

http://www.urbannaturestore.ca/squirrel ... uctReviews

There's also a red feeder of the same design, but it seems the green one does a bit better job. If you read the reviews on both colour models, you'll see that these things can be beaten by the smarter tree rats. But I bought two green ones anyway. The trick is to keep the furry thieves off of the feeder in the first place:

http://www.urbannaturestore.ca/18-quot- ... el-baffle/

According to the reviews, this is the one to buy. I saw the baffle defeat it's first squirrel within 20 minutes of finishing the installation and the filling of the feeders.

Some reviews said that the birds didn't take to the new metal feeder straight away or at all. So I have hung one of my old plastic feeders on the other hook. It also acts as a counter balance, since the metal feeder holds a lot of seed and is rather heavy. Hopefully the old feeder will lure in the birds, and then they'll try out the new feeders too.

[Hermskii]

Rat Guard works.

While in the Navy we applied these things to the mooring lines of the ship to keep rats from running up them to get on the ship. They work perfectly.

[a nameless entity]

Yes, as long as the diameter of the guard is wide enough to keep the rodent from just jumping over it, they will work.
That is apparently the trick with this baffle that I bought. I saw reviews that warned that other designs of lesser size diameters or plastic construction don't do the job. This Audubon brand baffle has a large diameter hole on the top so that it hangs loosely on the pole bracket. That way it wobbles and dumps any squirrel that tries to jump and grab the lip. And it's too wide to jump around. It is also powder coated galvinized steel. So it should prove to be rust resistant, and the powder coating is very slippery, so the tree rats can't get a grip on it the way they can with plastics.
So far I've only seen one squirrel try to climb the pole. All the others seem to know not to bother and just hunt for fallen seeds on the ground.
If the baffle works out as well as I hope, I may hang suet balls or cages from the 2nd hook come winter.

I must be getting old, because simple delights like bird watching are so pleasing to me nowadays.

Update: I saw my first "customer" on the new feeder today. It was a very small bird, and I did not recognize it. It took one seed and flew off with it. During sunset at 7:30 p.m. tonight I saw a woodpecker on the feeder. He hasn't accepted the new feeder yet, but at least the woodpeckers are back.

[EvilGrins]

Saw this on fuzzy's forum, couldn't resist...

[a nameless entity]

Nice one, EG

I've seen a few squirrels at the feeders. One was persistant and made three tries on getting past the baffle. He even examined the bracket before giving up. The others seem to know better than to even try, and have only foraged for fallen seeds. The wobble feature of the design works well. Today a cardinal landed on the baffle and was dumped off.

Seen today: A white breasted nuthatch made many visits. Three chickadees were at the feeders all at the same time, and squabbled over perching rights. The nuthatch left them to it and fed from the other feeder.

[Hermskii]

I need to put one on the lines from the power line poles to my house. At night you see rats running atop all of the lines we have in the neighborhood. The highest is high power. They don't touch that one. I know the middle or the lower one of the 3 is phone and I'm unsure about the last one. I have seen possums walk these lines before and I mean big ones. They run our fence lines too all of the time. My dogs freak out bad every time they find a possum on the fence. I'll try to snap a shot of one soon and post it.

Damn rats. i hate them. they run the line to the roof of the house. I have never seen any in my house but did catch one in a rat trap in the attic once.

[a nameless entity]

I assume you are talking about installing a product similar to this one: Critter Guard

It's not cheap, and must be professionally installed, but if you've already had rats in your attic then this or another solution is necessary. Rats don't have bladders, and dribble pee constantly. You don't need rat pee all over the place in your attic!

[a nameless entity]

UPDATE:
It's been two weeks since I installed the two new "Perky Pet Squirrel Be Gone II" feeders. Although I know that it can take up to several weeks for the birds to notice and get used to a new feeder, it is with chagrin that I watch the birds mostly prefer to use the cheap plastic gazebo feeders I bought 15 years ago. I even tried "bribing" the birds with sunflower hearts seed, which come with the hulls already removed. The saleslady at the Urban Nature birding store said that sunflower hearts are the "crack cocaine" of bird seed. Well they do like that seed, and to encourage them further into using the new feeders I put both of them on the double shepherds hook pole outside my front window, rather than have one of each kind of feeder on each pole. They DO use the new feeders, but don't seem to mind removing the sunflower hulls themselves, meaning that the old feeders outside my kitchen window are where most of the action is.

However disappointing it may be that all I needed to buy to defeat the squirrels and chipmonks were those Audubon 18" baffles rather than the metal feeders which go for a not unreasonable $35 in the US, all is not lost.
I saw a red breasted nuthatch coming to one of the new feeders this morning while I was working in the yard. That's a first time sighting, and a very pleasing one, since according to my field guide red breasted nuthatches are infrequent visitors to feeding stations, although they will feed on suet in the winter time on occasion. Red breasted nuthatches usually feed on pine seeds, and nest in pine trees. And it was back and forth from an ornamental pine tree in my neighbour's yard that he was coming to my new feeder. So maybe I've got a red breasted nuthatch "crack addict" coming to my new feeders for the sunflower hearts.

Also seen today, and I was pleasantly surprised by this too, was a visit by what I am quite sure was a female oriole. The bird was light brown on top with an orangey breast. She was even more shy than a female cardinal, and would only feed on the ground. I didn't see any white wing bars, but will look for those next time to confirm my sighting. It's rare to even see an oriole here, although I do know that they nest around here.
I've seen a type of fruit and nut suet online that is especially favoured by orioles. I think I'll get some soon.
Read the 2nd review of this product: http://www.urbannaturestore.ca/mill-cre ... uctReviews

Seen later today: Changing the seed from sunflower to safflower (squirrels won't eat safflower) last spring drove away the Goldfinches. But today they are finally back. I saw a female waiting a turn in a tree, and the male came to eat and would not be driven off by the larger House Finches. After a very intense rain storm a Redwinged Blackbird stopped off for a snack, as did a Grackle. I've had Starlings check out the feeders too. I guess the "word" is getting out that "Chez nameless" is the place to eat.

[a nameless entity]

Close encounters of the feathered kind:

Three times now while I've been working near or at the feeders I've had a feathered friend drop by for a snack right beside me. One was a house finch, it flew off quick. The next was a woodpecker. He hovered around the feeder for a few seconds trying to decide if he should perch or retreat. Finally he flew to the corner of my house and perched on a brick right at the corner to see if I would go away. I was washing the bird poop off of the squirrel baffle, so he decided to return later. And today the somewhat rarely seen red breasted nuthatch came to one of the feeders and landed on its hanger while I was washing the roof of the other. I stood perfectly still, and he chirped quietly to himself the whole time before he decided to move to the feeding perch and grab a seed. (Nuthatches usually take only one or two seeds and then fly off to a tree to eat them before coming back.) It was so cool to have such a close up look at this very tiny and shy bird, and to listen to him talking to himself.

I guess this thread has turned into a sort of informal blog of my birding experiences. Sorry about that...........um,.... no I'm not!

[a nameless entity]

I found some videos uploaded by creatorwise on Youtube. They are very well shot and edited. And the great variety of different species of birds this person gets at the feeders is amazing to anyone like me who lives deep in the heart of suburbia. I've been planning to add suet and niger seed to my offerings, but now will be adding an oriole feeder of the same sort of type come next Spring.

I've picked these ones for your viewing pleasure. They're worth the time invested to watch them. If you like what you're seeing, go to Youtube so that you can watch it in full screen. It's nice!









Check out all of creatorwise's uploaded videos to see even more.

[a nameless entity]

I hope some of you enjoyed the videos I linked to in my post above. I must have been inspired by what I was seeing in them, for I spent a large whack of cash on more things for my new hobby.
I saw this pole set which is very sturdy and has 3 hangers. I decided it would be ideal for those two "squirrel proof" heavy metal feeders I bought and this very nicely made Droll Yankees Finch Feeder.
I also bought a "suet sampler pack" and an interesting suet feeder called a"Cedar Tail-prop Suet Feeder".

It's been unusually warm this September, which is no surprise after that very hot and dry summer we had. So I decided to wait until the end of the week when it cools down again before I hang out the suet cakes. I was also a bit disappointed with the finish on the cedar suet feeder. So I had some fun yesterday and today painting on a couple of coats of Minwax "all in one" stain and urethane wood finish.

Putting up the new pole set was a challenge as it takes a lot of turning to get the base screwed into the ground. I will have to redo it later in a new spot, because I hit a buried rock and couldn't get the base to go all the way into the ground. Keeping the darn thing vertical as you twist the base is not easy when working alone either.
The birds must have been eager for me to finish the job and hang the feeders on the new pole, because they kept landing on the hooks as I worked, and then would flutter off again. It's so cute and so funny when they do that.

The new installation was a big hit with the birds this morning. They loved the fact that there were now two poles in the front yard. The feeders were busy all morning. I had a lot of grackles at the feeders and on the ground today. Perhaps they are fattening up for the upcoming long flight south for the winter. A blue jay joined all of my usual visitors today too.

p.s. Anyone from the USA that is reading this "blog" should not be put off by the prices of the items. They are in Canadian dollars. As competitive and low priced as they are at the Urban Nature store, you guys in the states will pay lower prices still.

[a nameless entity]

I have noticed over time that except for the finches, the birds at my feeders are very wary while they are eating. The downy woodpeckers are especially watchful while they are on the suet feeders. And all species are not fond of the two large perky pet feeders so much because their view is restricted while they are on the perch.

I noticed about six weeks ago that a suet feeder cage was on the ground, popped open with the suet cake beside it. At the time I thought that it was the inadequate chain type hanger and single latch design that was responsible for its fall. But yesterday I learned a more probable reason. I have a different brand of suet cage hanging outside my kitchen window on another pole. It has a much better hanger and two hooks to latch it shut. But despite this I saw that it was on the ground, popped open with the suet cake beside it just as before. When I went outside I learned why it was down. There was a dead American Kestrel (sometimes called a "Sparrow Hawk") lying on the ground about a foot away. It must have gone after one of the woodpeckers and hit the pole while at speed. I had seen a program about raptors on PBS a few months ago and learned about how the raptors can cruise swiftly down low and snatch a bird off of a feeder before it knows what hit it.

I would have been rather upset if I had seen the kestrel take one of the three downy woodpeckers that come to my suet cages regularly, (although I must admit I would not be so sad to see any of the ubiquitous House Finches taken away) but I am quite upset that something went so wrong that the kestrel died during its hunt. Bummer!

[a nameless entity]

Speaking of suet cages and woodpeckers, yesterday I noticed a woodpecker on my tailprop suet feeder that resembled a downy woodpecker, but looked far too large. I knew that there was a similar looking species, but had never seen one at my feeders before. A quick look in my old Audubon field guide and I realized I was looking at a Hairy Woodpecker. It was a male, with the same sort of bright red flash on the back of his head as a downy's. I've never seen a hairy woodpecker anywhere here in town before, so this too has made the investment in birding I have made lately worth it too.

I've also been noticing that the red breasted nuthatches have started to take quite a bit of suet before they grab a few seeds in the last couple of weeks. This is normal behavior in the winter months. It is unusually warm today, and has been all week. But below normal temperatures are predicted starting on Sunday, which means that the daily high temps will be just above freezing from now on. Isn't it interesting the way the wildlife always knows ahead of time what is going to happen, despite all of our modern advancements in weather predicting?

[Hermskii]

Do the squirrels still even try?

[a nameless entity]

Do the squirrels still even try?

Not very often. None of them has ever been able to get past the 18" Audubon squirrel baffle I put on each of my 3 feeder poles. They content themselves with ground feeding the spillage.

I haven't seen any red breasted nuthatches for over a week. The weather has returned to normal temperatures of 40-45F, but they seem to be gone. The larger white breasted nuthatches are seen more rarely too. Both species are known to flock about with other species of birds during the winter, and as heavy snows are predicted for this winter, perhaps they've all gone off to more southern climes. I'll keep watching.
(Once the snow flies there isn't a lot more to do otherwise anyway. )