Triumph Over Squirrels Is Easy
BY THE WILD BIRD CENTER, WEATHERFORD, TX
Again and again, Wild Bird Center customers want to
know if there is a way to bar squirrels from their bird
feeders. Some even engage in full-scale warfare with
the little rodents, often losing skirmishes.
The answer, believe it or not, is that it’s simple to
prevent these acrobatic rodents from getting to the
sunflower seed you bought for your chickadees and
cardinals. Here are directions that will thwart them near-
ly every time.
Place your feeders at least eight feet away from the
nearest object that squirrels can use to leap on your
feeder, such as tree trunks, back steps, roofs or sturdy
limbs. Place baffles at least four feet off the ground on
pole-mounted feeders so that squirrels can’t leap over
them onto the feeder. Hanging
feeders need baffles above the
seed feeders to foil squirrels
that try to climb down the wire
for a meal. (Always use a chain
or metal hook to hang your
feeders–the squirrels will simply
chew through rope, dropping
the feeder to the ground).
Hanging feeders also need to
be four feet off the ground to
prevent squirrels from leaping
onto them. Baffles are umbrella
shaped and made of plastic or
metal around which squirrels
can’t climb.
In a nutshell, squirrels can
leap at least eight feet horizon-
tally and four feet vertically so
feeders need to be eight feet
away from objects on the sides
and four feet off the ground.
Hanging feeders need baffles
on top and pole-mounted feed-
ers need baffles on the bottom.
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That system works fine for most
people. But some people have
yards too small to have a feed-
er eight feet away from other
objects or yards full of vegeta-
tion that squirrels can use to
launch leaps to feeders. Others
may have a space in their yard
that is suitable, but it would
put the feeder out of sight of a