With a small investment in feeders and seed, we can attract colorful visitors throughout the stark, white winter. But feeders can also attract a number of uninvited guests to the table.
Bird seed is fat- and protein-rich, two attributes in high demand over the metabolically challenging season of snow and scarcity. Feeding party-crashers can be costly and irritating, but more importantly, it can disrupt their very wild essence, especially in the case of bears.
The first thing on a bear’s mind, after it has emerged from hibernation, is food. That usually means the first greening shoots of spring, along with last year’s leftover nuts. But it can also mean the fatty, irresistible sunflower seeds in a birdfeeder that has been left out too long or that have accumulated in piles underneath it, or the suet that remains half-uneaten in its low-hanging wire cage.
Bears that become accustomed to human sources of food can become a nuisance. Once they’ve emptied your feeder, they’ll seek out other neighborhood feeders, or discover other inappropriate food sources, including compost piles, dumpsters, and grain bins. A sow who has become accustomed to foraging in this way will teach these skills to her cubs.
To prevent this from happening, wildlife officials recommend taking your feeders down by April 1 – or as soon as the snow melts – and not putting them up again until December 1. You may miss out on a few months of concentrated bird activity, but the birds will be just fine – they have plenty of natural food sources the rest of the year. After you’ve removed your feeder, thoroughly clean up (and dispose of) any spilled seeds, and make sure bags of leftover seed are secure.
If you put your feeders away from April through December, your problems with bears will be minimized. But you’re not in the clear: you’ll still have to worry about year-round seed-swindlers, especially squirrels.
Squirrels are notoriously clever and persistent. The best defense – unless you’re planning to stare out at the feeder all day, broom in hand, hollering voice at the ready – is a good offense. That means baffles, screens, metal flashing, and other squirrel-foiling devices.
Squirrel baffles are large cones, about two feet in diameter, that you attach wide-side down about four feet up the pole your feeder’s hanging on. The idea is that the squirrel will scamper up the pole, only to encounter the dead-end of the cone’s pointed apex.
Screens placed around feeders keep out not only squirrels but also large birds such as blue jays that make a mess (and in the process attract other unintended feeder eaters). Aluminum flashing, wrapped from bottom to top of a feeder pole, provides a slippery surface that squirrels have a hard time ascending.
As icing on the cake, you can construct a final hurdle for squirrels, using an aluminum pie plate. Cut a slit in the upside-down pie plate, about the same width as the feeder. Remove the feeder’s wire hanger, thread it through the slit in the pie plate, and put it back on the feeder. The pie plate will form a roof over the top of the feeder that squirrels will find is nearly impossible to negotiate.
A number of different critters feast on the seed that birds naturally spill or drop in the course of eating. These include squirrels and also mice, rats, raccoons, and even turkeys. Besides keeping the area under feeders clean, and placing collection trays under the feeding areas, bird enthusiasts can choose their bird food thoughtfully. Filling feeders purely with black-oil sunflower seeds – as opposed to commercial mixes – is a good idea, because birds love sunflower seeds (and not the fill ingredients, such as wheat and cracked corn) and will consume any spilled seed during the day, before other animals have access to it.
You’re not restricted to pure black-oil sunflower seed, though. One good strategy, to encourage different types of birds and to restrict non-avian diners, is to hang a number of different feeders with different types of seed in each. Thistle seeds, for instance, attract finches, but thistle is unattractive to squirrels. It is, however, enticing to mice. Place a bucket under your thistle feeder to catch any escapees and keep them out of reach of mice.
Restricting bird seed to birds is only one important aspect of feeder management. Keeping feeders clean by rinsing them in a solution of 10 percent chlorine, at least once a month, will prevent the spread of diseases between birds. Moving feeders around, keeping the seed dry, and putting out the proper seed varieties for visiting species are also important management tactics. With a little effort, your colorful winter visitors will remain healthy – and you won’t have to deal with the hassle or expense of incidental visitors.
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