I thought that I was the only one that thought of stringing up a feeder between two trees.
I made exactly the same feeder and was sure that I had our squirrel problem licked, but those little guys are pretty smart (or hungry). What they did first was to crawl from the tree upside down on the string. Thus the use of the two plastic soda bottles. This worked for awhile until they figured if they push hard enough with their back legs last, they can actually jump under the bottle and grab the string on the other side. It took them a few tries but they mastered it!
So what to do? I now add another bottle. That helped but didn't cure it.
One day I found one squirrel feeding away on the bird feeder and all of his buddies enjoying what he drops on the ground below. Hmmmm...how did he get there? It took me awhile to catch them getting to the feeder. I actually had to watch for quite awhile before I caught one and after I saw this squirrel do what he did, I decided they won this round. I haven't tried the oil of peppermint yet but that will be my last resort as I think that it is impossible to build a feeder to keep them out.
So anyway, I sat and watched the squirrel walk upside down just up to the coke bottles. Here he swings himself right side up and is standing on a string! He then perches his front paws on the top of the coke bottles and scampers across the two of them quick enough to not stay on long enough to be spun off and, I guess, equally distributing his weight so his balance would not cause too much of a spin.
These buggers are pretty good! You have to give them credit, but I saw that twice and threw in my towel. ... View related article.
