TechPlay - RSS Feeds

The exercise was easy to follow, and I now understand what RSS feeds are all about. I tried to add my home town newspaper as a RSS feed but unfortunately they don't seem to have added this feature ... :( So, I added the NY Times Science section, and the American Birds Conservancy's news feed. Now all I have to do is remember to check my Google Reader every day to see what has been posted!

Squirrels redux

We installed the world's greatest squirrel guard on the offending platform feeder. This guard is an approximately 30 inch metal disk, fluted and shallowly dished. It has a top hook for attaching to the wire leading up to the tree branch, and a lower hook for the feeder.
This miracle of squirrel denial and frustration worked for about one week. This morning I observed a fox squirrel as he looked, shimmied down the wire, and stood on the guard as he peered over the edge at the feeder below. As the guard tilted he slipped off, making a futile grab for the feeder on the way down. After sitting on the grass for a moment, he went right up the trunk, out the branch, down the wire, off the guard - and succeeded in grabbing the feeder as he fell. After one try he had figured out how to thwart the squirrel guard!
So, I got the ladder, took down feeder and guard, and cut the wire about two feet from the branch. I installed the guard on the end of the shortened wire, then attached the remaining wire on the underside of the guard and hung the feeder. This meant that the feeder is now about four feet lower than the squirrel guard. We'll see if any squirrel is brave enough to fall four feet in the hopes that he can catch onto the feeder on the way down.
Stay tuned ...

Squirrels in the feeders!

We hung the old feeder that Roger made (for use at the library's temporary headquarters at Shawmut) as feeder #8 in our back yard. It is a simple frame of wood with a wire floor, hanging from four wires, intended to hold sunflower seeds. It sure didn't take long for the squirrels to find it! Stymied from stealing from the other feeders by various forms of squirrel baffles, the resident fox squirrels were soon shimmying down the feeder's wire hanger to stuff their cheeks full of sunflower and safflower seeds. It never ceases to amaze me how quikly squirrels adapt to new situations, particularly where food is involved. I definitely see a trip to J & M Feed Store for another squirrel baffle in our near future!