Mon 13 Nov 2006
For those who are interested, here is the video of all that went on with the Pillow Feeder feed on Sunday morning. With the design change, I figured it would be a *little* harder for the squirrels to crack, but they went right at it with precision and cleared all of the nuts out… err…… yawn, that’s old news, heard it before, been repeated time and time again, whatever, etc… But there was something different about yesterday’s recording - the Black squirrel came back! Maybe it wanted to survey the situation for a week or so before trying it…?
Not only that, but the tagged squirrel put in an appearance or 2… very cool! - I’ve never seen the tagged squirrel at the Pillow Feeder before (correct me if I’m wrong of course…) I still wonder why it’s tagged - if it’s been around this long, it’s interesting no one’s (or at least no one to your knowledge) has come around looking for him/her, if it’s a pet, or what…
Chris, you said in the last posting about the latest setup that
“I reckon that’s about it for the pillow feeder idea“
If you’re done with the whole idea, I just want to thank you again for trying it - I didn’t think anyone would have been interested enough in the idea, let alone willing enough to try it, and let alone again to stick with it until it worked! It’s been an interesting few weeks to see how someone else’s squirrels deal with a project similar to my original design! I’ve also learned a lot of things from your designs, tried newer methods of getting videos (including the up-shot, which I’ve been trying to get for 2 years, and is now a possibility), and would have never thought have doing if someone else didn’t prove it was possible! I didn’t think any design similar to mine had any chance working in a vertical design like the Pillow Feeder, and your squirrels have shown again, and again, and again that it’s not even an issue! Very, very, very cool!
It would be interesting to see if your birds would take to the idea also, but I don’t think it’s the right time of year for them - bird activity/interest usually peaks in the Spring, so maybe you’ll want to try this again next year — plus the squirrels would most likely just take the feeder back from the birds anyway, of course… 
Although written by me (Zach), the picture and video in this post are © 2006 Chris Osborne, originally published on The Backyard Voyeur. The “Pillow Feeder” is his feeder project based on my (Zach Glenwright’s) Backyard Bag Feeder Project…
Pillow Feeder 11-12-06 AM Feed [16:11m]:
November 13th, 2006 at 10:44 am
Once again thanks for monitoring my cam in a way that I can’t do for myself with the equipment I have. You’ve picked up loads of stuff I missed because I am not a morning person
I also had not seen either the tagged or the black squirrel at this feeder, though both of them regularly use the tray feeder which is adjacent to it, so thanks for recording that.
Your clip confirms the physical evidence of the bag; the tape didn’t fall off, it was taken off, and the squirrels had actually chewed large holes in the plastic at the bottom of both of the tubes, as if they suspected that there was some further and more interesting treat hidden in there. So clearly there’s no point in me hiding nuts in the tubes - something I was thinking of doing - because they’re already ahead of me on that one!
I think the only development I could make now would be to get hold of some real foam and try the technique of putting nuts or seeds in the holes, as you do, though I don’t doubt for a moment that the feeder would still be emptied in a day. I have a few plastic bags left though, so I’ll probably keep the feeder up there and put seeds in it anyway until the bags run out.
November 13th, 2006 at 12:16 pm
hmm… as an experiment… I’d hang two bags out.. both made to look absolutely identical. Both should have a tube in but only one should have food in - but the food must remain hidden from view (it’ll be interesting to see if they notice the visible weight difference in both bags - unless you can find some way of making both bags weigh the same and of course, raise the game by having the ends of the tubes blocked up)
As for me, well, the weather has gone rotten and is set to stay that way all week.. so.. not gonna set the webcam up here… I’m gonna play it by ear and use my digital camera if there’s anything on the bucket feeder (I’ve filled it full of acorns and right now, I wish there was an acorn perfume I could use to attract squirrels… not seen Loopy for 2 weeks now… (properly anyway)
A light shone in this direction about them wouldn’t go amiss… want to use that to webcam stuff in the new year 
It’ll be interesting to see how they eventually work out which one has the food in - and treat the whole thing as ’scientific’
As a sideline, we’re getting a mac mini - and I know two things about macs, nothing and b*gger all
November 14th, 2006 at 3:35 am
I haven’t really figured out what kind of person I am… some nights, like tonight, I’m still up at 6am — that’s 7pm to 6am, and I’m still here… other nights, I go to bed at 12am and wake up at 7, other nights… I’ve never been one to sleep properly, ever…
That’s just me!
That would be an interesting idea to try, with the 2 different bags! I’ve tried something similar to that before, but they both had food, one type for squirrels and the other bag had a little bit of cat food on it (I was trying to see if the crows would stop down and that was a somewhat educated guess at what they’d be attracted to — of course, they didn’t…) But that’s worth a try! Maybe have one with food, kind of concealed, and the other one with the scent of peanuts, but without any actual food in it… I personally can’t really do anything that big of a scale now, that’s more next-year stuff, and it’s more of a project that would support the smaller-sized Backyard Bag Feeder bag design, maybe one sitting next to another one rather than the bigger Pillow Feeder design…
On a similar note, I found a perfect example from a project edit from last year that I found of one of the “recessed holes” ideas, and it actually fools the squirrels in this one! Just click on the picture below…
Where are the nuts?
The best thing about this particular Backyard Bag Feeder Project edit is that it’s fairly short, the whole thing clocking in at 8 minutes or so (yes, that’s short)! There’s also some very cool natural sounds of the squirrel sniffing around on it too, but that’s not what I’m trying to show in the clip - the recessed nuts idea can work, as it did here, but I wonder how long that would fool them…
The weather’s been mainly, er… well, let’s just say it’s not “put-camera-out” weather, here, either… It rained on Sunday, yesterday (where I did get my camera soaked), into today (which it wasn’t supposed to, of course), and it’s supposed to do it on Thursday and Friday as well… oy…
Really? I thought you did hide nuts in the tubes! Especially since they were tapered in a little on the top and bottom (that was probably just the pressure of the bag though…)
Ah, well, that’s good, because I do know b*gger all about them! Ask away if you have any questions!
Do you mean that you want to try out the 2-bags idea? Maybe by then the kids won’t be as annoying… eh, they’re still kids, I doubt it…
November 14th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
well.. if I could do a small project, it would be the confusion tubes… but.. I’m outta tubes, in the process of backing up my PC, waiting for the mac mini (it’s so small, it’s portable.. more so than my bulky old PC is!) and yeah.. there’s the issue of those durned kids…………..
I could do a smaller project on the windowsill, but as it’s likely to be raining all week and I only have cardboard tubes… well… yeah.. it’s gonna more likely end up being a failure. Plus the days grow ever shorter… and with a whole load of other projects and other stuff lined up here of one degree or another, I’m best waiting until the new year… (my partners ‘friend’ has invited himself down to stay.. erk.. he’s a.. oh never mind.. we’ll get through it, even if it is like having a toddler in the house… long story anyway :D)
November 15th, 2006 at 12:13 am
Hehe… I know that feeling…
It’s probably better to wait until next year anyway — wait until Spring, more and more animals will be around then (of course, I’m kind of amazed how many are around now compared to other years past at this time…)
It would be cool to see the confusion tubes idea in motion, but in due time…