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2 new feeder raiders

14 years ago

3 weeks ago a low hanging humming bird feeder appeared to be leaking. i'd fill it with water-no leaks. refill it with syrup-leaks but in the morning it would be empty. this went on for a week. put a game camera near the trap. that night i saw the flash go off & there was an opossum at the trap. it would lean the trap enough for the syrup to flow & would lap it up. set a live trap & solved that problem. i have another feeder with sunflower seeds only in it. i recently found a new sunflower blend & the lid of the trap started coming up askew all of the time. there have been a couple of large woodpeckers & bluejays hanging on the feeder & i assumed it was them causing it. last night i happened to look out the window & could see a large silhouette on top of the feeder. there, hanging off the the tree was a raccoon.set a trap for it but had an unwanted critter this morning....a skunk.

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Comments (6)

Elly_NJ
14 years ago
Not sure what to say here.

You are putting food out for animals and they are eating it. Just not the ones you intended.

Nocturnal animals are eating the food you put out for diurnal ones.

They are doing no harm except for eating the food you provided.

What did you do to the 'possum?

Don't leave the feeders out at night. Problem solved.
deanie13
14 years ago
Thanks for reminding us how intelligent and persistent those nocturnal animals are. We had a similar situation this summer with a coon taking the suet out of a "critter-proof" suet feeder. I couldn't believe how crafty and strong it was. We ended up abandoning that feeder because we kept forgetting to bring it in every night and when we remembered, it was a pain to put it back out before work every morning.
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Elly_NJ
14 years ago
It is nicer to leave the darn things out.

What about putting less food in them? so it's empty by evening?
paulsiu
14 years ago
Hanging feeders are tough to protect. No matter what shield you put on top, raccoons and squirrels will managed to get around it.

If you switch to a pole mount, and then protected it with a 2 feet long torpedo baffle, it should be raccoon proof (but not deer or bear proof). Note that a raccoon baffle is pretty expensive, but may beat taking the feeder in every night.

Paul
bandjzmom
14 years ago
I agree. If you have a lot of trouble with nocturnal diners, you just may have to take the feeders in at night. That, or buy more food, and refill more often.
ginni77
14 years ago
I watched a beautiful doe come to a bird feeder at one of the apartments in my dad's complex. She tipped the feeder and just munched to her content. She kept looking back at the woods as if she were concerned about something. A little while later two fawns showed themselves. No wonder she was hungry and looking for easy pickings! Of course, all of this was in broad daylight.

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