Squirrel-proof bird feeders – or maybe not
Grey
squirrels have become very successful in most of Britain since they were
introduced from North America in the nineteenth century. Agile and ingenious, the local squirrels rarely take long to spot that a bird feeding station is a handy source of
free food. Or, for that matter, to
figure out how to defeat, circumvent or otherwise overcome attempts to keep
them away from the food. Here’s one grey
squirrel at a wildlife site that has figured out how to outwit the (supposedly)
squirrel-proof feeders:
The
white plastic skirt and cage around the trunk of the tree holding the feeders is a
baffle, designed to stop squirrels climbing up from the ground. It may well be very effective at that – but this
squirrel ran up a nearby tree, leaped across the gap, and ran down the tree holding the feeders
While
hanging on to the tree with its back legs, the squirrel can stretch across to
the feeder...
...and
tuck in
Even
when the feeder is too far from the tree to stretch across from the trunk, the
squirrel is not deterred. Just run back
up the pole, out along the branch, and swarm down to hang on to the feeder
itself.
