Back in early summer, I went to Bird Fest (I blogged about it there). I put my name into the raffle, and what luck! I won!

Nature-Expert (formerly known as CCFA, or Centre de conservation de la faune ailée de Montreal) sent me the now-famous and very effective Squirrel Buster feeder (the Plus model) from Brome Bird Care (you have to see their “404 Not Found” page!). Now, as you might know, I don’t mind feeding the squirrels, but bird seed can be a bit expensive when you have a lot of ravenous mouths to feed over the winter, so having one feeder for the birds’ exclusive use is helpful. So here goes the pictorial, from its unboxing to a play-by-play of a squirrel trying to get the goods:

In the box: the feeder, user manual and bird ID kits, and a ring to support perching cardinals
Label and QR code (obscured by distortion)
I’m really not surprised; this thing is solidly made!
No Squirrels!
Here we have contestant #1!
He really can’t find a place to leap to…
OK so let’s try it from the top, shall we?
She/he is going for it!
So close, but WT…?
Oh! what a fail.
Here’s Contestant #2 (or maybe it’s still Contestant #1 back for Round 2)
Here he/she has perched on the vine that’s…just…
out of reach
OK, back to strategizing from the flower box
A perch and stretch, but not far enough!

So there we have it, folks. The Squirrel Buster on my front porch is definitely not for the squirrels. And that’s the way it’s gonna be!

Updates:

Here and above, some action pics of the feeder’s intended purpose. I participate in FeederWatch and take pictures because it helps me count the birds, but honestly, I take pics anyway because: cute. Here we have all six portals occupied (or maybe five). The flower box (below) stays there all year round so that they have a place to browse and get ready to launch their next volley at the feeder:

Squirrels come and go, but every year I put the feeder out in November. Here’s a fresh victim contestant, obviously destined to fail:

A new squirrel becoming acquainted with the Squirrel Buster

I’d just like to say that while I am a little gleeful here, I’m still a soft touch for the squirrels. They don’t have to scrounge for what scraps the birds scatter below. Here’s one with a nut I left out for it: