When I posted the above pics I also posted an apology for the spacing between pics, but it didn't show up. I am not very good at picture posting :) I got these, and more, in an email. If it had been a web page I would have posted a link. They really made me laugh so I thought I'd share.

Hi Nancy, I bought new birdfeeders today. I was in the States for the day (I'm from Canada) and so I decided to checkout Lowes and got feeders with metal perches. Funny thing about animals - you really can't tell what's on their minds when they do what they do..so for me to make sense of this is probably futile. And you are probably right in that large birds may have caused the damage -- yet I cannot explain why the cuts occur at the point the perch enters the tube and why the rest of the perch do not have any bite marks. These are relatively new tubes. One a year old and other just recently purchased. The perches are pretty strong I can't snap them in half. If it had been squirrels, the tubes by now would have been damaged. They remain intact and for added protection I had greased the poles. Mice, raccoons or squirrels will have to do heck of a pole dance to make it up that pole. I won't throw away my older feeders. I would like to still use them if I can locate rods of similar width to replace the perches. or as you said, enlarge the holes by drilling and get branches.

You guys, the first launch I ever saw I was in Melborne on the beach at 6:30 in the morning with a bunch of on-line friends that decided to get together from all over the US, Canada and the UK! We all had terrible hangovers from the 3am partying the night before. I actually went in the ocean around midnight with all my clothes ON! The sight and sound that morning was most spectacular and did a lot to really sober us up. It was an awesome thrill to share with all these friends. The next day, the couple from England and I went to the space center, the rocket garden, etc. It was fascinating!

Thanks, bluebars, for your reply. I will try the other forums you mentioned. They are sparrows, roosting at night mainly. There are not nesting. I considered the owl idea, but suspected it wouldn't work . Birds are smart! Thanks for confirming my skepticism. My husband did end up pulling the vine down, but lovely man that he is, he didn't cut it, or dig it out, rather he re-directed it further upwards, to grow vertically, higher up the house, rather than letting it nestle itself along the garage roof line. So at least the vine is still growing, and if I ever figure out a solution to this dilemma, I can train it back to where I wanted it (It looked SO good there!). Thanks again for your help!