Well, I just about froze my toes off doing my good deed of the day

[conuly]

I was outside feeding the birds, no coat, slippers on, when I heard the distinct sound of gushing water. Obviously my first thought was that one of our pipes burst, but no, I am pretty good at remembering to turn off our outside water every year. Burst pipes are expensive.

It was the neighbor. And I apparently got him out of the shower to let him know, which explains why I had to stand on their porch knocking for three minutes. If it had been much longer I would've given up and called 311 about it instead.

In other news, one intrepid squirrel has figured out how to baffle the baffle and get nuts from the peanut feeder which is for the blue jays. Honestly, I ought to just put cayenne on them, but then I'd have to wear garden gloves or something to refill the feeder rather than doing it barehanded. It's not that I don't want to feed the squirrels, it's just that they'll leave nothing for the jays. I'll need to think about this some more.

In other other news the mockingbird has been a more frequent visitor lately! Gosh, it's pretty.

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Comments

[angelofthenorth]

Any time I hear about people trying to baffle and deter squirrels I'm reminded of the squirrel "daylight robbery" films.

One of them is : https://youtu.be/nmQXu4cQRa0?si=ywuq9Egfvh0YGPpq

[conuly]

Thanks for the link :)

[meowmensteen]

I remember my first night in during a Texas visit to see family. I went out front early and could hear all these different kinds of birds in a tree nearby. I stared and stared, but could only spot one bird. After some investigation I figured out it was a mocking bird and it was making all those sounds haha.

[conuly]

They barely sleep when it's that time of year.

[dark_phoenix54]

Consider yourself lucky; we've got wild turkeys landing on the feeders and breaking them!

[conuly]

Oh our wild turkey is happy with her own corn feeder

[sallymn]

That was good of you, I think it's one time he would appreciate being hauled out of the shower!

[conuly]

I think so too, once he realized what I was telling him!

[movingfinger]

The only thing that has deterred squirrels consistently, in my 96-year-old mother's decades of feeding birds, is a stovepipe baffle placed on a freestanding feeder pole. The one I got her has four arms, so she has a couple suet feeders and a couple seed feeders up there, and the squirrels can only get there if there are deep snowbanks around. The feeder is placed far enough from the roof, the overhanging branches (which have been trimmed back over the years anyway), and tree trunks that the squirrels can't jump from there. I think the distance recommended was 8 or 10 feet.

We tried everything! The Yankee Flipper, the bird feeders that close under a squirrel's weight, etc., etc. But the stovepipe baffle actually works. Squirrels and raccoons seem unable to beat it, without, as I said, deep snow to elevate them high enough to jump past it.

[conuly]

Yeah, well, there's nowhere in our yard that's 10 feet from everything.

[cellio]

Can you apply the cayenne after filling? The distribution wouldn't be as thorough, but maybe border protection is good enough? (I'm assuming you're using a liquid hot sauce and am wondering about spritzing or dripping it in, in a way that doesn't involve skin contact.)

[conuly]

Anti squirrel hot sauce is not fucking around. You can scrub your hands raw and still have an accident twelve hours later when you were trying for some private alone adult time.

I’d be worried about getting myself every time I touched the feeder.

[cellio]

Ah! I did not realize that you were talking about weapons-grade hot sauce and not run-of-the-mill tabasco sauce or the like. That changes the level of protection needed, yeah. Good luck!

[conuly]

On the other hand, the squirrels aren’t dumb enough to eat the stuff. They take one whiff and back off. So… I don’t know where I’m going with this plan.

[pensnest]

I have had a squirrel war going on for... quite a while. One of the strategies was the application of chilli powder to the peanut holder. Most of the squirrels gave it a wide berth, but there was one cheeky little tree rat who was all, "Fuck yeah! Spicy!" and nomming very determinedly. So you never know.

We have a dustbin lid baffle half way up the pole from which the bird feeders dangle, and squirrel action is much reduced.

[conuly]

Again, it's not a war, it's enrichment.

[minoanmiss]

Oh goodness. If you're going to war with the squirrels all I can offer are thoughts and prayers.

[conuly]

I don't call it a "war". I prefer to think of it as enrichment.

[minoanmiss]

bwee