The Squirrel, the Physicist and the Bird Feeder

[cdev]

A battle of wits.

[floobydust]

First that came to mind is adding a cartwheel or using pop cans/plastic bottle on the path= "rolling log" so the squirrel can't get a decent grip or balance. Unless the squirrel turbo's right along them. They can just blast past things too.

I like watching Shawn Woods Mousetrap Mondays as he works with mice, rat, vole, squirrel etc traps, some from the 1800's.  It's a fun puzzle to defeat the enemy.

[cdev]

First that came to mind is adding a cartwheel or using pop cans/plastic bottle on the path= "rolling log" so the squirrel can't get a decent grip or balance. Unless the squirrel turbo's right along them. They can just blast past things too.

He does that in the second video, there is a second video attached to this one.

This is making me want to get a bird feeder. what a good way to get some free entertainment.

[ucanel]

 Squirrels makes scientist retire,
makes quit their day job at Nasa,
science's next big problem
keeping squirrels out from bird feeders

https://youtu.be/hFZFjoX2cGg

Seeing these videos makes me think
at that level of commitment squirrels deserves the feeders rather that birds.

[cdev]

I just saw that there is a squirrel-like animal in Australia (the land without squirrels) they are called sugar gliders.

They are very cute little flying marsupials who like to eat sweet stuff.

They are becoming popular as pets.

[wrex]

Geez, I finally join this forum and my first post is about squirrels!

Anyway, thanks for posting this. It hit me "right in the feels" as my kids used to say.

Long before he passed, my dad fought and recorded a similar battle back in the late seventies or early eighties. He attempted to prevent a squirrel from climbing a simple vertical pole holding a "bird" feeder. The progression went from a commercial baffle (instantly and sneeringly overcome), to the largest funnel he could acquire, and eventually, to a snow-sledding saucer with a hole bored in the middle. The big funnel was overcome with an impressive chin-up and gymnastics. The saucer was overcome with a spread-eagle flying leap from a (somewhat!) nearby tree onto the saucer, toes at the edge and hands around the pole when landing (with his eyes bulging as the entire pole dramatically swayed back and forth for some time).

The final, hilariously impractical and short-lived (but successful) fix was to remove all the baffles and simply lube the entire pole with axle grease.

Sadly lost somewhere (likely in a landfill in rural Virginia) is a similarly comical VHS tape of a frustrated squirrel progressing through all of the obstacles above before frantically making it up the pole a few inches at a time ... and then sliding back down to the bottom. We seriously considered sending it into "America's funniest home videos" but never got around to it.

[G7PSK]

There was a clip of film on the news the other day of a squirrel trying to get to a bird feeder. The woman that took it hat put grease on the metal support pole so the squirrel just kept sliding down the pole.