I have 10 bluebirds, two Carolina wrens, three or four song sparrows, three or four tufted titmice and some chickadees. I go through 10,000 meal worms every week and a half. I see all of them first thing in the morning and then they come back two or three at a time several times throughout the afternoon. I probably put out 100 or more at a time. I order large but haven't seen any I would consider large for quite some time. I think that is one reason they eat as many as they do. Dave

I'm just going to make a reply to get it off the top of the forum...

They officially went up Tuesday night, 4/2/2013. Hanging about 7-9 feet off the ground under a large, mature Norway Spruce, in sight of my kitchen corner nook. The big tube feeder filled with Black Oil Sunflower seed, the caged green one with Safflower seed, and the thistle feeder with Nyjer thistle seed. I scattered some BOSS and Safflower under each feeder. The next morning things were quiet until about 9am, when I saw small birds near the big tube feeder. Then I saw a couple of Blue Jays, and some Cardinals nearby. I refilled the nearby birdbath to melt the icy water, and watched the birds having fun the rest of the day. Less than two days later, I'm amazed at how many BOSS seeds have gone, about 1/3 of the tube. There's plenty of feeding being done on the ground, too, squirrels included. The green feeder with the Safflower doesn't seem to be getting much action. Yet. The thistle feeder is getting some attention, but the big tube feeder is the main attraction so far. I'll be refilling it and trying to see if the birds will also go for Safflower mixed with BOSS in this feeder. Now the fun begins, watching and identifying all the smaller birds from afar, zoom on the camera and binoculars just aren't perfect. Comments and suggestions welcome. Thanks for the help in getting this novice birder up to speed!

I have tons of squirrel in my area. Both species are tree squirrels (gray and fox). There are so many that may be several passes through every couple of min. There's always a few hanging underneath the feeder alone with morning doves, grackles, and some times Canadian geese. Recently, I switch from a hanging tree feeder to a pole system where the base is 4 metal pins. I don't have to dig a hole or anything, just step hard on it to get it to go into the ground. My initial attempt to do this fail because I tried to do this next to a wall and the wall apparently have stones base that extend pass the wall. I then attach a baffle and then the feeder. The feeder is located 10 feet away from a tree so they can't jump that far, it's also over 6 feet up. So far, a few attempt to climb the pole but either slip off the metal or get to the top and get blocked by baffle. I don't know if it's raccoon proof, but there are raccoons in the area, but I don't know if anyone tried it. Paul