Jen Vieth from Carpenter Nature Center sent some cool photos of her grape jelly feeder. She’s getting orioles, like the young ones above, but she also gets:
an American robin coming in to the grape jelly too.
Thanks, Jen!
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(This is actually a question.) How can I keep raccoons away from my bird feeders?
–Deb in Eden Prairie
A beautiful feeder! And I thought Robins liked worms?!
Hi Deb-I hope Birdchick might have advice for that too–so far here up hee in Becker we have had to bring every birdfeeder…and jelly feeder…and hummingbird feeder, in at night or else they are wrecked and empty in the morning.
So, I guess you know about this post from Laura
http://lauraerickson.blogspot.com/2007/04/is-feeding-jelly-really-okay-for-birds.html since you commented on it, but I wonder if
the “Simply Fruit” brand with the following ingredients:
Ingredients
FRUIT SYRUP, CONCORD GRAPES, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, FRUIT PECTIN.
would address these concerns. I mean for years we’ve been telling people that sugar water mimics natural nectar for hummingbirds. Is the problem that jelly has high fructose corn syrup and not table sugar? Or is it much ado about nothing?
Thanks, Nicole. That’s what I am doing now in Eden Prairie, too. Guess I’ll keep doing it unless someone has an easier method!
nicole –
the best method I have found to keep raccoons out of feeders is to find a large open spot, put up a pole and hang feeders and make sure the pole is high enough so the bottoms of the feeders do not hand below 5 feet. Then, purchase a raccoon baffle (about twice the length of a squirrel baffle) and attach that to the post so that the top of it is at least five five feet up.
The pole must be at least ten feet from anything a raccoon could leap from: trees, branches, lawn furniture, fences, etc.
If you follow those dimensions, it will work. This is covered more in depth (with photos) in my book that just came out, City Bird/Country Bird.
steve –
There are lots of things that could be identified as bad for birds–genetically modified crops used in bird seed mixes are an example. Until I see actual studies with concrete info of the effects on birds I can’t really comment pro or con.
I hang all of my feeders from a huge tree limb and the raccoons are awful here. Each morning I went out to find them broken, pulled up in the tree and empty. The best solution that I have come up with so far is to hang all of my feeders from barbed wire and I have them far enough off the ground that the raccoons can’t jump up to my feeders. I have not had one problem with my feeders since I have used this method.