Our attempt to outsmart the squirrels began when we decided to mount a feeder off our second floor deck, since our main living area is on the second floor.  We researched poles and found that most were not strong enough to support a bird feeder without bending in half.

But we soon found the ‘Swing Arm Pole’ and watching the Youtube video demonstration, discovered that this pole would work for us.  We bought a tube feeder, mounted it on the swing arm pole, placed the feeder on its hook, and waited for the birds to come.

We didn’t have to wait long; soon first chickadees, then various finches, nuthatches, titmice and finally several kinds of sparrows were dining in front of us.

That lasted till the squirrels discovered it. One or two were able to climb the 45 degree swing pole and jump on the feeder. At one point we returned from a walk to find the tube feeder on the ground. We rehooked it, but a few days later we looked out and saw the feeder had disappeared.  Sure enough, it was on the ground again, but this time a perch or two were broken off and a few others loose.

I jumped in the car and headed to the hardware store where I described what I wanted and found out they were called, ‘snaps.’ A snap is just what you use to hook your dog’s leash onto your dog’s collar; I bought another tube feeder and a plastic baffle. We painted the swing pole with slippery silicone, used the ‘snaps’ to hitch the feeder onto the baffle and the baffle onto the swing arm’s hook and we were in business.

So far our squirrels haven’t been able to figure out how to get to our tube feeder; a few try to climb the swing pole only to slide back down. Some look at is as if to jump, then look down from this second story deck, and figure it just isn’t worth the fall.

Have we at last outwitted the squirrels?