Jay Gaulard Blog

Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder

Ahhh, the time of year is here again when we all try to devise nastly little plans on how to defeat those damn squirrels that just love to visit our bird feeders.

We thought we caught a break. We have had a cylindrical bird feeder with a cage around it hanging off the porch for a few months now. It hasn’t even been noticed by the squirrels. Then, we placed two more bird feeders in the front of the house and the squirrels brought the hammer down. It’s like they are trapeze artists on these things. I knew we needed to break down and buy one of those squirrel proof bird feeders.

A few days ago, Laura did some research on the internet to find a good squirrel proof bird feeder. She found a pretty good site that had a bunch of them, but they were pretty expensive. I mentioned that we should look at more websites and maybe read some reviews on Amazon or something.

As it turns out, I happened to by in Home Depot the day after she did her research when I passed by the bird feeder aisle. I saw two different types of squirrel proof bird feeders. The first type was the cylindrical shaped feeder that we already had, but when a squirrel jumps on it to get to the food, the whole outer cage slid down to block off the food openings. The only problem is that it seemed like the squirrel needed to weigh a heck of a lot to make that outer cage slide down.

The second type of feeder I saw was the typical shaped feeder house, but had a front stoop that drops down to cover the food tray when the squirrel jumps on it. It had a weight adjustment, so you could actually stop the larger birds from getting to the food as well.

I decided to buy the second feeder, along with some more bird food and a pole set.

Squirrel proof bird feeder on pole set, mounted to the porch.

Front of squirrel proof bird feeder with drop down perch.

Squirrel proof bird feeder showing drop down perch and weight adjustment.

I really hope this does the trick. I think these types of bird feeder offer similar promises as all those gutter guards. They all claim to be the best and offer 100% protection. Since I installed it, we haven’t had the pleasure of witnessing what happens if a squirrel decided to make a visit, but I am sure we will. When we do, I will try my best to use my video camera for the occasion.

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Trees Blooming in May

I took a few photos of the back yard this morning. Every year, I like to take pictures of the trees in the area. I do this, because every year, I forget when the heck the leaves come out. It’s kind of like a journal…or a log…or a web log…oh wait, a BLOG. That was funny.

Anyway, since it was so wonderfully beautiful this morning, I decided to drink my coffee on the back porch. One really big reason it was wonderful is because there were no bugs flying around my head yet. You should’ve seen me trying to rake up some leaves yesterday evening. Whoa…it was like I was in a boxing match. I am sure the neighbor was laughing. I put on some “Off” and it did nothing. What is it with the bugs this year? I think I may be stirring them up by raking.

It seems like the leaves are taking a reaaaaaly long time to bloom here. It may because there are virtually no Maple trees. They are all oaks and they take longer. I bet Westchester County looks totally like Summer right now. Maybe with some more warm sunny days, things will start looking greener around here.

As I was sitting on the back porch, I noticed a little bird land on our bird feeder. I thought it was odd, because there was actually bird food in the feeder. Do you know what that means? It means that the squirrels haven’t figured out where it is yet. If they had, it would be empty. I think I am going to just keep walking around quietly to keep the thing under their radar. Everyone knows what happens when a squirrel finds a bird feeder. That’s the end of that. Squirrels are on Laura’s “nemesis” list. For an animal lover, I have never seen such darkness in her eyes…

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