Squirrel Proof Bird Feeders - What are the Options?

When anyone sets up a bird feeder in their yard squirrels immediately annoying pests of themselves, stealing all the seeds before there’s any birdwatching to be done. Squirrels love bird seed and thus they can make it difficult to maintain a bird feeder, just about the only solution is to buy a squirrel-proof bird feeder.

People can end up spending a lot of time and money trying to keep squirrels away from their bird seed and there are countless feeders and devices out there devoted to the task, however squirrels are smart animals and many of these fail. When looking at squirrel-proof bird feeders you’ll want to make sure you get a high quality device or else the squirrels will soon break through it.

Many squirrel-proof bird feeders have a dome-like design on top that is meant to enclose the seeds so that birds can reach it but a squirrel cannot. The dome prevents the squirrel from perching on the feeder and causes it to fall right off when it lands on the seeder leaving it unable to get at the seeds.

Other feeders go with a weight device that is triggered once the weight of a squirrel is felt. Once the device is set off the feeder will close off the seed and the squirrel will be unable to reach it.

Another type of feeder will allow the squirrel to perch on it, but once they reach the seed their weight will trigger a device that will cause the perch to spin and fling the squirrel off, this is not harmful to them.

Not to mention that watching squirrels be propelled off the feeder is sometimes even more entertaining than birdwatching. By this point you’d probably feel you’ve triumphed over the little buggers, but you’ll notice that squirrels can be quite tenacious. This is because they’ll figure out that every time they land on the feeder some seed spills out. Given enough time there will be enough on the ground for them to eat.

See all our Squirrel Proof Bird Feeders

photo credit: Gilles Gonthier