Carol - those pesky varmints! i have had rather good luck with my feeder on a 7-foot pole where i have attached (don't laugh -- it does work!) a metal Slinky from the top with a zip-tie, stretching it out very slightly and leaving the bottom loose. it slides downward nicely when a squirrel tries to climb from the ground -- so far, it has foiled them every time. i've done this for the past 3 years....

do you have those clear baffles that hang on top of the feeders? they can help to a degree.

this year, i have bought a new feeder that is pretty much GUARANTEED to keep the squirrels O-U-T: you can check it out at rollerfeeder.com. pricy, but it looks great, tough construction, is made in the USA, and according to the testimonials, really works, saving lots of $$ on buying seed. so far, i really love mine.

good luck!

I have an older version of the Duncraft feeder linked below. A really enterprising gray squirrel can get seed one seed at a time. I've had red squirrels camp out in there, but those aren't usually a problem.

Here is a link that might be useful: Squirrel Proof feeder

I almost filled my birdfeeder last weekend, but then I remembered about attracting bears and waiting until hibernation starts. There have been fall bear sightings around here. I don't know the timing though.

That rollerfeeder looks promising. I don't think I've ever seen one that claimed to stop the small red squirrels.

Thanks, fellow birdfeeders. I checked out the rollerfeeder online, and also the drollyankee anti-squirrel ones. Stupidly, the first feeder-maker has still pix online but no short video of a squirrel being dropped, so it didn't make sense to me. Then I went to the droll-y. site and: same lack. Brilliantly, I then went to youtube and found videos of both varieties. Including a very funny, pro- made one for droll-y. (Pardon all the company names mentioned; I know there's a rule against this here, but there was no other way to talk about them)

So far I've found out that my local (Waltham) farm supply store has them back-ordered and I'll have to wait a week. But there are still plenty of berries on the bittersweet, rose hips on the multiflora wild roses, and seeds on the grasses. So the birds are OK for a week.

Carol

I found another possible one! Called the Squirrelbuster Plus, it's availablet at Russell's in Wayland. Pricey, but I want to feed the birds, not the squirrels. Will let you all know if it works.

Carol

Keep what you have and use safflower seed. Squirrels will not touch the stuff. They hate it. Trust me this is from experience here in Worcester.

I've tried safflower seed. birds wouldn't touch it either. Even the cardinals who supposedly love it.

There's a video demo of the SquirrelBuster Plus on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Brome-1024-Squirrel-Buster-Cardinal/dp/B0007LQ3RQ

Interesting wendyb. Our yard is a haven for cardinals bluejays and doves not to mention every other bird native to Massachusetts and not a squirrel in site. The feeders have to be filled two to three times a week with safflower seed. Fussy birds in your neck of the woods.

Thanks, wendyb. I drove out to Russell's in Wayland yesterday and bought a Squirrelbuster, which is working well, outside the rear sliding door. Only problem (but I can adjust the tension later) is when all 6 perches are occupied by fat sparrows and the automatic slide-down starts descending from their weight.

But no squirrels seen hanging acrobatically from the feeder.

Carol