This Place Is For The Birds

Warning - legal BS ahead.

Disclaimer: I have no connection - financial, personal, or otherwise - with the following company or its products. Neither do I make any express or implied guarantees concerning them.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way...

We live out in the country. One of the nice aspects of that is the wide variety of birds that live here (or migrate through). We enjoy their company. (Well, most of them. The buzzards are a pain in the ass.)

But like I said, we enjoy having birds around. Hence we've put up several bird feeders. Some are mesh socks for the finches.

Mesh provides a perfect clinging surface while discouraging other birds from stealing seed. Provides maximum airflow so seeds stay fresh and dry.

Some are suet cages for bluebirds and woodpeckers.

But most of our feeders are just plain old seed holders for a wide variety of birds.

The biggest problem with those types of feeders is keeping the damn squirrels from eating all the seed (and raccoons and possums as well, but mostly squirrels). Those tree rats will empty a feeder in an hour or two. They're also amazingly athletic and determined. We were going crazy trying to keep them away from the feeders.

Squirrel acrobat going after bird seed.

We finally found something called the Squirrel Buster.

The patented Squirrel Buster technology is truly squirrel proof. Thousands of delighted bird lovers have confirmed it. The Squirrel Buster Classic has openings in the wire grid that align with the seed ports and provide birds access to the seed. When a squirrel climbs onto the feeder, its weight automatically forces the grid down, closing access to the seed ports. Squirrels and many large birds are foiled but not harmed in any way.

It works. It was great fun to watch the squirrels going bonkers trying to get at the seed. They quickly learned that the best way to get some bird seed is to hang around on the ground under the feeders and scarf up what the birds drop.

Which puts them where the dogs can get at them... heh heh.

So everyone's happy. The birds get plenty to eat. The dogs have a great time chasing squirrels around. We have fun watching the Wild Kingdom show going on outside our back porch windows.

Of course, it's not as much fun as watching squirrels get flung across the yard...


... but it is nonetheless enjoyable.

As an added bonus, the company that makes them is a pleasure to do business with. We had one feeder that was damaged when some really determined squirrel chewed almost all the way through the wire that the feeder hangs from. We contacted the company to see if we could order a replacement part. They sent us a brand new feeder free of charge! So if you're in the market for a bird feeder, we highly recommend Brome products. They perform as advertised, and the company is fantastic. A big "Thumbs Up" to Brome!

Click to embiggen.