Confessions of a bird feeder snob

I have two bird feeders, but not all wildlife are welcome to them. 

Squirrels were my first enemies.   It wasn't so much the seeds they took, but that they were also eating the bird feeder; scratching and chewing right through the wood and plastic.  (My personal opinion of squirrels is that they are rats with fuzzy tails!)  Keeping them out of my bird feeder quickly descended into warfare.  I tried greasing the pole--they ate the grease.  I tried mixing red pepper with the bird seed--they liked their seeds extra hot.  I hung a slinky on the pole--they thought it was their personal amusement park.  Finally, I purchased a slick, plastic squirrel guard endorsed by the Audubon Society.  It was hilarious to watch the squirrels.  They would race up the pole, only to be trapped under the clear dome; puzzled that they could see "their" feeder but couldn't get to it.  They would jump from the ground, only to be dumped off the slippery slope as it tipped beneath their weight (and they were chubby from all the bird seed they had stolen from me in the past). 

While the dome worked great for the pole feeder, it didn't work quite as well on the hanging bird feeder.   I installed the dome above the feeder per the instructions that came with the dome.  The squirrels quickly learned that they could hop onto the dome from the tree branch, which would then tip (under their chubbiness) and sling them right onto the bird feeder where they could fill up their tummies and their cheeks before hopping down to the ground.  My response was the hang the feeder higher from the ground.  Sadly, this was a mistake because the next squirrel to arrive was afraid to jump that far to the ground so it climbed up inside the dome and chewed through the cord fastening the feeder to the tree, both feeder and squirrel crashed to the ground.  The squirrel survived; the feeder did not.

Since then, I have discovered the virtues of fishing line; 25 pound test line will hold the weight of the feeder, but is too fine for a squirrel to grasp with its greedy little claws.  If the feeder is suspended longer than the distance a squirrel can stretch its rat-like body and hangs at least four feet from the ground, it is safe from rodents.  

Once I won the war with the squirrels, I realized that there are some birds that do not play nicely at the bird feeder--English sparrows.  They are cute, but they would descend on my feeder in flocks, emptying it of seed in less than 30 minutes.  Other bird species never had a chance. 

Some internet research revealed that the University of Michigan did a study on this problem.  They discovered that English sparrows do not like to fly under or between wire.  For $30, I could purchase a "halo" designed to fit on my feeder that would keep 90% of English sparrows out of it.   Being a frugal person (read:  cheap), I examined the photo of this halo and decided that I could make one.  My halo is made from clothes hangers and florist wire and works just as well as the "real" thing.

My bird feeder may look a little odd to you, but now I enjoy visits from dozens of species of birds; my backyard is often filled with the glorious sounds of birds singing, and even when the flowers aren't blooming, we can enjoy brightly colored birds flitting from the trees to the feeder and back again.