Back in South Carolina we had some bird feeders out. But we had to worry about the wildlife getting to the seeds. We had a squirrel proof feeder that, at least, one squirrel figured out how to defeat. I finally figured a way to keep the squirrel out, but keeping a local raccoon out was much harder. You can read about the battles here.
Here in Klamath Falls we have seen very few gray squirrels, our yard and immediate neighbors don’t have any nut bearing trees, so none have discovered the bird feeders. We did see one raccoon cross the street at dawn a week or so ago, but it wasn’t the problem.
About three weeks ago the two bird feeders that are out front (one ours and the other the neighbor’s) were getting emptied out practically overnight about every 3rd or 4th day. At first we thought maybe a flock of birds were showing up and just gorging themselves. But then one day the neighbor’s bird feeder was laying empty on the ground and while ours was still hanging, it was empty as well and one side had the spring-loaded perch broken off.
I filled them both up again and the next morning they were completely empty. It had snowed lightly overnight and there was a half inch of accumulation on the ground and in that snow were a set of deer tracks leading right up to the bird feeders. Aha! A clue. One real reliable way to keep deer out of a birdfeeder is to place it high enough that they can’t reach it, about 8 feet up, this is not really an option I wanted to take.
The other one sure way is to take the darn thing down every evening and put it back up every morning. This is the way I have chosen to go. I go out early 4 days a week to get the local newspaper anyway… To help me not forget to do this1 I have downloaded an app that allows me to set an alarm for sunrise and sunset.