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RE: squirrel discouragement



>I did observe one squirrel trying to go up the pole to reach the new nut
>cake I put there for woodpeckers and such. He got his feet on the sticky
>part of the pole and didn't like this at all, leaping off immediately. He
>also left some long tail hair that got caught in the resin. I hope this
>continues to work without posing any serious problems to either birds or
>squirrels.

I really think a pole with a baffle is the only way to go.  The woods I live
in are squirrel heaven, I've counted 18 in the yard at one time before.  I
used to have a lot of problems with them before going to the baffle system,
now my problems are non-existent.  Two times a year, when the new brood of
squirrels are born, I'll see young ones climbing the pole and trying to
figure out a way around the baffle, and taking flying leaps from the closest
trees trying to land on the feeders, but the older ones know better and stay
put on the ground.  

We have an old long cedar branch supported by the pole with two hanging
feeders, a fly-through, two suet feeders, and one platform all hanging from
it.  Since getting the baffle, there's never been a squirrel on any of them
once, it works 100%.

Only drawback is if you don't have a place to put a setup like this.  It
must be at least 8 feet away from any tree or branch from where the
squirrels can take a leap.

The one thing I do see, sometimes Titmice and Chickadees drop some seed down
to the squirrels.  I've wondered if there's some unheard communication going
on there, "take this seed but leave my eggs alone."

Take care, Craig