Anyone who has ever put up a bird feeder with the intent on feeding and enjoying birds, quickly discovers that when you put food out, you never know who or what will show up to capitalize on this new food source. It doesn’t matter if you live in a rural area or a tightly packed urban residential subdivision like where these feeders are located. One of the first animals to show up (unless you live in Australia or Antartica) are squirrels as there are 280 different species of squirrels according to one source.

Squirrel Facts

Before we start taking sides, either bashing them or defending them, let’s start with a number of interesting facts about squirrels:

Physical Attributes:

1. Squirrels are technically rodents and as such their front teeth never stop growing, which means they always need to keep gnawing on nuts and hard material to keep the growth or their teeth in check.

2. There are around 280 different species of squirrel in the world. They are found on every continent except Antarctica and Australia.

3. Squirrels are born blind and newborns (called kits or kittens) are about an inch long. Generally, two to four young are born per litter and at 8 weeks after birth, this rodent can see normally. Their life expectancy varies, depending on if living in the wild or in an urban area. The average my be 8 years, but in the wild maybe 6 years and urban life up to 20 years.

4. They have 4 toes on their front feet and 5 toes on their back, with very sharp nails to catch and grip trees and limbs when navigating amongst the trees. Some think that the 5 toes on the back is to gain better purchase when leaping. They also have cushions (or pads) on the bottoms of their feet to cushion the landing when making long jumps or even falls.

5. They have double jointed ankles (meaning that they can turn their ankles 180 degrees), allowing they to make quick directional changes on flat or even vertical surfaces, making them extremely agile.

6. The sense of smell of squirrel is acutely developed and it is said that the male can smell a female up to a mile away.

7. Squirrels eyes are uniquely positioned in a way which allows them to see at wider angles and even behind them making it hard to sneak up on a squirrel. You may think that it doesn’t see you as sometimes their defense strategy is to freeze.

8. Squirrels can jump a distance of up to ten times their body length, using their long, muscular hind legs and short front legs which work together to assist in leaping. I have found that a straight horizontal leap of 10 feet is difficult and a rule that I use. I have found them able to vertically leap up to 4'2"" at my feeder, meaning that I had to raise my feeders to keep them at bay.

9. They can fall unharmed from 30 meters high. This is mostly accomplished by first acclimating their head to view the ground. They then rotate their body to adjust for the landing and flatten out their tails, spreading their legs to flatten out their bodies to create a parachuting effect, slowing the squirrel’s rate of decent. Then, the pads on their feet also cushion the landing, along with their muscular legs.

10. Squirrels can achieve speeds of up to 20 miles per hour, however generally, most squirrels run maybe about half this speed.

Behavioral Attributes

1. Squirrels can collect over 15,000 nuts in one season, store the nuts and seeds at various locations and return to them throughout the winter to maintain their energy levels when food is scarce.

2. They find buried nuts by smell and have been known to find buried food beneath a foot of snow.

3. One estimate is that they lose up to 74% of the nuts they bury. Compare this to a Carolina Chickadee who stores up to 80,000 seeds or nuts in different locations and can remember not only where the food is stored, but what food it is and the quality of that food! Squirrels lose a lot of buried food to thieves. This is why some squirrels pretend to bury food to throw off food thieves.. However, the upside to this is that unfound buried nuts can grow into trees, replenishing the forests they occupy!

4. Squirrels have superb vision, and also have the capacity to learn quickly, copying other squirrels or other animals.

5. Squirrels communicate with each other through various vocalizations, scent marking, as well as use their tails as a signaling device, when uneasy to alert other squirrels of potential danger.

6. Like many other animals, squirrels bulk up to stay warm during the winter.

7. Squirrels are omnivores, although they are predominantly herbivores. They not only eat nuts, but they also have been known to eat insects, caterpillars, and even baby birds.

8. Raccoons, snakes, owls and hawks are considered the main enemies of these rodents.

9. Squirrels mate only twice a year and can be vicious, as they’ll fight to the death over territory or to defend their young.

10. Squirrels often run in a zigzag pattern when trying to escape from predators like hawks.

As one can see from the opening picture, it is not easy to stop a determined squirrel from getting to your feeder, Here is an example of a female squirrel searching for a solution on how to access the feeders above the ground feeder:

Given that squirrels are blessed with a large helping of abilities to survive and source food, which includes the ability to somehow get to the food at your bird feeder, what can one do? Let us see!

Squirrel Management Tips

Location, Location Location!

This “Location, Location, Location” saying is frequently a factor used in choosing what real estate to purchase. So, what is it doing in a squirrel management tips list? This concept is easily applied to the location of ones feeder, as squirrels jumping ability is top notch. Here are a few locational tips:

A second location tip is that your feeders shouldn’t be positioned too low. Squirrels at my feeder can vertically leap a little over 4 feet high. So, ensure that your feeder pole (Pole Option 1, Pole Option 2) is a tall one and that the top of the pole squirrel/raccoon baffle is over 4 feet high.

A third location tip is to offer a second food source specifically for the squirrels, so they get their fill with this second food offering instead of the expensive food in your bird feeder. Even better is to locate this food source in a location that is out of sight of your bird feeder. This can be around another corner of your house or locate a tree between the second food source and your feeder. This keeps their eyes on the second food source and not your feeder.

Equipment Tips

An alternate method of managing squirrels is to use specialized equipment. Really, if all these locational and equipment strategies are used together, you have a better chance reducing squirrel intrusions. The equipment is broken down into poles, baffles and feeders. Listed below are some equipment choices that may be helpful.

Squirrel Stopper feeder pole with built in squirrel and raccoon baffle:

Baffles - There are a couple of kinds of baffles. Some baffles are used on the pole and others as domes to protect from attacks above. The third kind are built into the feeder and I will address those in the next section. For now, the first picture is illustrated of an effective baffle that I use on two of my poles. The second one is a dome baffle that I use as to prevent intrusions from above and it is also used as a rain shield over my platform feeder.

User tip on the use of domed baffles - These lower your feeders. Ensure that the feeders aren’t now hanging so low that a squirrel can vertically jump up to your feeder or jump off ground feeding trays or any structure that the squirrel can use as a step to jump higher.

Caged Feeders - This next solutions group affords protection if the squirrels have made it past your pole baffle or dome type baffle. These two caged feeders not only protect against squirrels, but also against some larger pesky birds such as Starlings, Grackles, Crows or Magpies. The first one is designed for two suet cakes and the second for seed. Smaller birds can access these feeders, but larger birds or critters cannot. The only downside of using these type feeders is that some of the other larger birds that you are trying to attract, also cannot get food from these feeders. I plan to produce a blog about the management of pesky birds in the future. So, stay tuned and either subscribe for notifications or click on the RSS feeder button below to have the new blog posts sent to you.

Weight Activated Feeders - The last feeder is a type of feeder that shuts the access ports if too much weight is put on the feeder perch. The weight level is adjustable to allow some larger birds, but not heavier birds like crows or critters like squirrels.

Seed Catcher Trays - If you have no ground feeders to attract the squirrels, then seeds are most likely falling to the ground. Seeds on the ground attract squirrels and other rodents or critters that you would rather not have in the vicinity of your feeders. If this is the case, then consider installing seed catchers. However, remember that whatever you strap on to your feeder may lower it to the level that squirrels or other critters can jump to to access your feeder. Here are a couple of seed catcher products that may be of interest.

That concludes my tips for managing squirrels at bird feeders! If you have hung in with me this far, you win a consolation prize! To help reduce your frustration with squirrels (and maybe even get a chuckle), these two videos from Mark Rober prove that us bird feeding folks are pitted against a very worthy opponent. Don’t beat yourself up too bad if they sometimes get the best of you and get to your feeders! Please let me know tips that you use to manage squirrels at your feeder. Funny stories are also welcomed!

Here are your consolation links. Enjoy!