Birders Outsmart the Squirrels This Spring

Squirrels This Spring

Few sights ignite as much frustration in the hearts of birdlovers as a squirrel's bushy tail bobbing happily in the bird feeder. Serious birders and casual bird lovers alike know that when the squirrels move in, there's not often much left for the birds.

Outwitting the squirrels is even more important in spring, when food is still scarce for birds. When it is too cool for many insect populations and months away from fruit on trees or ground seeds, birds may struggle to find enough to eat.

It is possible, however, to provide for your feathered friends and keep squirrels out of the feeder.

The first step is to draw the birds to your back yard. Next, provide alternatives or deterrents to convince squirrels to stay out of the bird feeder.

Birds, like people, are selective - even picky - when it comes to food. To attract the most birds to your feeder, buy the best seed possible. Many commercial feed mixes contain cheap filler seeds like red milo that most songbirds just don't like. They'll sort through the undesirable mix to get to the "good stuff" and leave the rest in the feeder or on the ground. What the birds won't eat, the squirrels will love, so reducing the waste will help reduce your feeder's appeal for squirrels.

Squirrels need not be an inevitable element of bird feeding. Love them or loathe them, most birders agree they don't want squirrels in the feeder, where they can damage the feeder itself and devour seed meant for the birds.

One alternative is to stock your feeder with a seed that the birds will love but squirrels will hate. Squirrels will eat just about anything you put out for birds … anything except Hot Meats from Cole's Wild Bird Products. Cole's infuses top-quality sunflower meats with an exclusive habañero chili pepper and safflower oil mix that birds find delicious but squirrels simply hate. The blend is a safe, effective and humane way to feed the birds and not the squirrels.

Another option is to serve the squirrels something they'll find even more appealing than bird seed. It is possible to enjoy both the squirrels and the birds in your back yard if you lure them away from the feeder. Squirrels love whole, dried corn on the cob and loose dried corn. Cole's offers Critter Munchies, a blend of whole yellow corn, striped sunflower, peanuts in the shell, black oil sunflower and raw peanuts. Provide Critter Munchies on an open platform-style feeder, an ear of dried corn on a stick or even a stake (or pinecone) coated with peanut butter, and hopefully, squirrels will be less of a problem at the bird feeding station.

Courtesy of ARAcontent