How-To: Elegantly simple squirrel-proof bird feeder

Science
How-To:  Elegantly simple squirrel-proof bird feeder
Small-simple-horizontally-mounted-squirrel-resista.jpg

I love this bird-feeder tutorial from Instructables user me13lake. It’s not flashy (indeed, with a title like “Small simple horizontally mounted squirrel resistant/proof bird feeder that requires no specialist tools to make,” I’m guessing it was written by a scientist or engineer) but it’s well thought-out, easy and inexpensive to make, and it looks like it would work very well. The clear squirrel-guard rotates freely so they can’t get a grip, and can be made from a 2-liter plastic bottle. Or you could try cutting one from a glass bottle.

16 thoughts on “How-To: Elegantly simple squirrel-proof bird feeder

  1. Casey says:

    I wouldn’t claim that this is squirrel-proof by any means.

  2. Steve says:

    The only way to test the squirrel proofness of a bird feeder is using the same methodology as baby proofing: No matter how baby-proof you might think your house is, it’s not until a child crawls around it for a few months. They can get into things in ways you can’t possibly imagine.

    I’ll accept this as squirrel-proof when I see squirrels frustrated by it for years.

    The only design I’ve seen even mostly work so far is some variant on this one: http://www.amazon.com/Heritage-Farms-Absolute-Squirrel-Feeder/dp/B0007LQ3US/
    Still only squirrel resistant, but they can only steal food in small quantities after many attacks, with is much better then anything else I’ve found.

  3. riverreaper says:

    the bird can hear the cat comeing alot better now so even if the squirle eats the birds food the cats not going to eat the bird

  4. riverreaper says:

    one labbled bird feeder an one labbled squirrle feeder , there problem solved

    1. Andy L says:

      Haven’t you learned from History?

      “Separate but Equal” is not the answer.

  5. riverreaper says:

    the bird gets into the squirrle feeder then you have to build a bird gard an how would that work ataching the bowl on the outside seems to be more chalenging hu?

  6. Jon says:

    My solution was to give the squirrels a separate, easier to use feeder. It seemed to work pretty well.

    http://jonathanryan.org/2009/05/15/worlds-simplest-squirrel-feeder/

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I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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