Early in 2022, in response to an epidemic of salmonellosis that was killing wild birds, I decided to leave my bird feeders empty because I wasn't confident I could keep them clean enough. With spring off to an early start in my part of the country, I felt there was enough in my garden to feed the birds without providing store-bought seed. Recently, however, as Thanksgiving approached, I felt it was time to supplement their diet again and I filled my feeders once more. My garden was never without birds over the course of the year but their activity has certainly increased in the past few weeks.
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| These 3 feeders sit outside my home office window where I can view the activity every time I sit down at my computer. The hazy view in the distance is the Los Angeles harbor. There are 3 more feeders in the front garden close to the street but they're not readily visible from inside the house. |
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| Closeups of birds at the feeder. Lesser goldfinches and house finches are year-round residents (along with mockingbirds, scrub jays, and hummingbirds) but the white-crowned sparrows just spend the winter here. I hadn't seen a single white-crowned sparrow until the feeders were filled and they were suddenly everywhere. |
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| Closeups of white crowned sparrows - males on the left and a female on the upper right - as well as what I believe is an immature house finch. |
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| The smaller finches hang out in the nearby Ginkgo tree until the pushy sparrows and other invaders leave space for them at the seed portals. When a hawk zooms in the direction of the feeder, the birds all dart into the safety of the strawberry trees (Arbutus 'Marina') only a few feet away. |
When the feeders were empty, the squirrels virtually disappeared, although I occasionally found evidence of their inept burials of unripe guavas and persimmons in the garden. They immediately reappeared as soon as the feeders were full again.
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| All my feeders are "squirrel resistant" but that doesn't mean the critters don't make a concerted effort to get to the seed. While some squirrels accept eating seed the birds drop to the ground, there are always others that aim higher. |
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| The largest feeder is particularly challenging for the squirrels. Resting any weight on the ring surrounding the feeder's seed portals causes them to close. |
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| The smaller side feeders are easier to circumvent, provided a squirrel hangs upside down from the top of the feeder without putting downward pressure on the wire cage surrounding the tube containing the seed. No squirrel can maintain that position for long. They inevitably fall to the ground or grab the feeder pole and slowly slide their way down. Hanging upside down from the top of the larger feeder is impossible for them. |
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| Like the birds, the more timid squirrels sometimes hang out in the tree-like Leucadendron 'Pisa' near the feeder, waiting for the aerialists in their group to give up. They also steer clear of the scrub jays that periodically seek to dominate the feeders. As in the case of the squirrels, the jay's weight also closes the seed portals. |
I've enjoyed watching the birds from my office window, and even the persistent efforts of the squirrels. I'm already running low on seed but I'll probably get enough to keep them all going for a couple more months before I let them return to foraging on their own. If you know of any squirrel resistant feeders that are especially easy to clean, please let me know.
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material © 2012-2022
by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
The squirrel's acrobatics are hilarious! You captured great shots of them; a laugh a minute.
ReplyDeleteJudging by the daily ruckus, there is no shortage of natural food for our backyard birds. The only time we put out bird seeds, usually a couple of hand fulls on the patio, is when there is persistent snow.
chavli
I wish I could have caught a shot of 2 squirrels chasing one another around the trunk of one of our peppermint willows, Chavli, but it was over and done before I could grab a camera. It looked as though the chase was pure fun rather than a competition for control of the feeders at the other end of the garden.
DeleteWe don’t have squirrels in this country which is a good thing as we already have enough exotic species causing until damage in various ways, but I do think squirrels are very cute. Your bird feeders are very clever to keep them out - to a certain extent. I guess it’s almost impossible to find anything that’s entirely foolproof. Here we have to worry about cats. I recently found a dead red dumped parrot in the garden which made me very sad.
ReplyDeleteAgain I forgot to say who I am!
DeleteSquirrels generally aren't very popular with gardeners here, Jane, but I think their antics at our bird feeders are rather entertaining. However, in the days prior to "squirrel resistant" feeders, they were much more annoying!
DeleteYou have such an amazing view, and the birds really add to it. :) I use a large dome/baffle that blocks the squirrels from getting to the feeders. Sounds like your system works very well, too. I didn't realize the disease outbreak had hit your part of the country. I did the same thing last summer when we had an outbreak--I pulled down the feeders, washed and sterilized them, and re-hung them in the autumn.
ReplyDeleteGiven the placement of those feeders, they squirrels can't jump onto them from above as there are no trees there to give them a perch; however, I've been thinking I need a baffle for the lower portion of the feeder pole to keep them from shimmying their way up from ground level.
DeleteYour feeders provide as much entertainment as the bird bath fountain!
ReplyDeleteThere's more activity at the fountain since the feeders were refilled too!
DeleteBeautiful to have so many birds in a spot where you can admire them closely. Your squirrel photos are great! Such characters!
ReplyDeleteSquirrels can justifiably be called the acrobats of our gardens here, although I'm afraid most gardeners have less positive terms for them. However, they're much less destructive than raccoons (which we have plenty of) and deer (of which we fortunately have none in my location).
DeleteAaahhh, those squirrels... my stepdad once lamented that he wished his grad-students had the same tenacity the squirrels raiding his bird feeders do. I can see why he said that - LOL!
ReplyDeletePrior to the introduction of squirrel-resistant bird feeders, my husband would have echoed your stepdad's words, Anna. My husband, who has a PhD in physics and taught engineering classes at the university level at one time, built a feeder he thought would keep those critters out but apparently he underestimated both their persistence and their razor-sharp teeth.
DeleteHaha - that's great!
DeleteI have a platform feeder and my squirrel strategy is to let it get empty for a day or two and then put in about a cup of seed ( I use sunflower hearts so no waste) which seems to work pretty well. My neighbor directly behind me has 4 feeders in her locust tree so they tend to hang out over there most of the time, and the birds have those to feed from when mine is empty. I also leave a lot of plants standing until it looks like most of the seeds are gone. I get crowned sparrows in winter too, but mine seem to prefer the standing plants and foraging in the garden beds .
ReplyDeleteThe squirrels get a lot less seed since I introduced the squirrel-resistant feeders. Why they don't confine themselves to eating the seed the birds drop, which seemingly requires much less effort on their parts, I don't understand. In addition to bullying aside the finches, the white-crowned sparrows here like to peck at my Aeoniums for some reason - their water content maybe?
DeleteI enjoyed seeing your birds Kris - so different to ours although we've had some exotic visitors to our bird table this week in the shape of parakeets! Squirrels seem determined in their efforts to get into bird feeders wherever they are in the world.
ReplyDeleteThere are flocks of feral parrots and parakeets here too, Anna, descendants of escaped pets. They're very noisy! I've never seen any in my garden but they visit my local botanic garden on a routine basis and, when we lived in Santa Monica years ago, they'd flock to the date palms every year when those trees had fruit.
DeleteI bought my first squirrel 'resistant' feeder this year (Audubon Bird's Choice Squirrel Proof) and it seems to be working fine so far. The bar can be adjusted to three weights, so we don't have a jay problem either. Saving a lot of money on seed, too! I'm curious about the bird that you thought may be an immature house finch, but it looks like a grosbeak of some kind, but not any I could find in allaboutbirds.org. Possibly not native? Those breast spots are distinctive. Eliza
ReplyDeleteI looked at birds on the same site you did, Eliza, and couldn't come up with a match. The closest visual comparison I found was a brown thrasher but that bird doesn't live anywhere close to SoCal. I defaulted to the ID I'd made from a distance view as house finches are common here; however, at least in that photo, its coloring is more rusty than the red commonly seen in male house finches. The females and immature males show a speckled breast and males develop red coloring as they mature but not on their wings as shown in that shot. It's a mystery.
DeleteLooks like a Nutmeg Mannikin - non native non migratory in California but I have had them in my yard in South Orange County
ReplyDeleteNot a bird I've even heard of but I think you're right! Thank you. I also found an online source that says it's been added to the California state list by the Audubon Society: https://ca.audubon.org/news/nutmeg-mannikin-added-california-state-list
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