Bird invasion

Welcome Barbara. You'll love it here in the Northeast forum.

I'm Lee Anne, from the North-Northeast

Have you tried one of these baffles? Not a single squirrel has gotten past it.

I have one with a grate that is attached with springs... anything too heavy slams the doors shut... no food for the squirrels

I have two feeders. One with the black sunflower seeds and one with white safflower seeds. The birds like both, the squirrels do not like the safflower seeds.

Hi, H-Mom,
Welcome. I have two feeders. they are both plastic containers but with metal grilles around the outside. so the squirrels can't chew the plastic up. They swing on them though and dump the seed out on the ground and eat it there.
Martha

They sure are smart little buggers.

Victor - I have one of those baffles on one of my poles..
I have a platform feeder right above it.
When I first got them I had a space (about 6") between the top of the baffle & the platform.
Every once in a while I'd catch a squirrel on the platform. Ifigured he was jumping from the fence. Then I caught him in action.
He would leap to the top of the baffle & push up the mesh on the platform and climb through the gap!
It was too funny!
Now I have the platform right above the baffle so there's not enough space.
The squirrels still get uo there from time to time.
They can jump from the fence - about a 5-6 foot leap.
There's not much I can do about it. The yard itself is about 20'x25' so it's difficult to keep the squirrels at bay. So I feed them. I have a squirrel seed block hanging at the base of one of the poles. I also sometimes use those compressed corn thingys. I also toss out peanuts and peanut butter balls to keep them busy.
As long as they have something on the ground, they'll leave the feeders alone.
In this shot, you can see the 2 poles. The one in the rear has the corn (almost gone) hanging from it at the base. Note the squirrel in the lower left.

We have a half-moon baffle on top of a hanging feeder--squirrels can't get down, but they can (at least a couple of them) jump from the tree trunk onto the feeder--can't quite get it further out on the branch. Glad to see that you have evening grossbeaks in NH. They haven't been here for yrs. (north of Boston). The towhees haven't been around either.We do have a piliated wood pecker in the summer.

I've seen the Evening Grosbeaks and the Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks here in NH. I also see alot of the Flicker, the woodpecker that eats on the ground, they're big!
It sounds like veryone's had success against squirrels except me, do I have smarter squirrels:-))?

Not smarter squirrels, perhaps hungrier squirrels.
I have a baffle like Victor's and one of my birdfeeders also has the spring-loaded 'closing' action when one of those heavy creatures lands on it. Both have worked well for me.

Yes - you have to have the pole about 7-8 feet from any tree or structure they can jump from.

a few more shots from the other day

reminds me of the bird movie

amazing how they wait and all seem to want to get in the feeders at the same time.... and boom all take off at once

I think the feeder on the left is going to break soon.... it only has a small clip to hold the top on.... (it was a gift)... but when they pile on them and then take off you have to see them just swinging ... very aggressive that's for sure

Definitely shades of Alfred Hitchcock you got there. Haven't seen any red wings or grackles around here, probably won't till the snow all melts and the furry food for the hawks wake up.

I found (well, my dog did) a dead male cardinal in the yard on Thursday. I can't help but worry about how it died.

aaawwwww that's sad

my one yorkie found a dead bird in the yard this morning too.. well at least I hope she found him that way... not so sure what kind of bird it was... my honey took care of the poor baby and I didn't see him

:(

Had a ton of robins trying to shelter them selfs during the last storm.

This guy doesn't look like he missed to many worms!

Maybe it is a she?

Could be, plump if not expecting. A full figured Robin?

Or has gastric problem..

I have the spring loaded one also, works real well. I put safflower seed in my platform feeder but no one informed the squirrels they aren't supposed to like it!lol I ended up wrapping the feeder in chicken wire... little birds in, squirrels out! hee hee Keeps those stinking grackles out of it too.

maybe I have to change my settings on my spring loaded one... the grackles are having no problem getting in it

There are three settings on mine.

mine too... I think mine is set too strongly.. will have to take a look at it... thanks for reminding me of that

Pictures of the Fort Worth grackle problem on TV news tonight. They've hired a hawk, but I bet they're still too many

What does the hawk charge?

http://www.gracklefilm.com/
There is a 5 minute version, but i think the 60 second trailer is better.
Warning - there is a bird sound when the page opens.

kind of funny we have lots of hawks here... doesn't bother them any