For my next iteration of the pillow feeder I got a couple of cardboard tubes to act as barriers, and put the peanuts in between the two tubes. And these tubes fitted tightly in the bag, too. Just for good measure I also ran some electical gaffer tape along the bottom of the bag to discourage any cheating from there. This is what the bag looked like …

So I went into the house, made a quick cup of coffee and went to look at the monitor. I was astonished to see that one of the tubes had already been pushed aside and there was a squirrel sitting leisurely eating one of my “protected” peanuts on top of the bag! So much for another clever scheme. Subsequently I’ve gone back out and reset the tubes but really don’t expect there to be any peanuts left by tomorrow. I admit it, I’m beaten.

This post, as well as the picture and video from it 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…

 

 There goes another good idea, 11-11-06 [1:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

This squirrel made me grin because he’s in such a rush to get into the bag and get a seed out each time; no relaxed hanging around for him. More haste doesn’t always work out though, as he only manages to stay on the bag for two minutes.

This post, as well as the picture and video from it 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…

 

 Fast food, 11-11-06 [1:58m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

I expect you’re getting bored with hanging squirrel clips, but I thought I’d post this one up just to show how much seed has gone since I tried using the pillow feeder for sunflower seed instead of roasted peanuts.

Lunchtime, 9th November

Lunchtime, 11th November

As you can see, the feeder has been a success and the change of feed hasn’t discouraged the squirrels from using this feeder at all. In the clip below you’ll see that they’ve made a small hole in the bottom now, so that they can help themselves to seed from there rather than having to go through the side. Mind you, you’ll also see that just staying up there is still problematic and although this squirrel looks like he’s got it down to perfection, he hasn’t - not quite.

This post, as well as the pictures and video from it 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…

 

 Hanging again!, 11-11-06 [2:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

I’m not sure if anyone visiting here is interested or not in my up-shot stuff, but just in case, I’m posting it anyway…

I left the camera running from Thursday to Saturday, and nothing much happened… until Saturday morning. I finally got an up-shot angle on tape of something that was interested in my hanging bag feeder - a waxwing! This year is a first for them here - I’ve seen them once or twice before on the ground version of my Backyard Bag Feeder Project, but very infrequently… Very cool! You can see all of the waxwing visits in the first video below, along with a few shots of squirrels yawning (especially the first shot of the video)…

A waxwing getting a nut from the bag feeder!

As I was getting ready to shut everything down (it’s supposed to rain here again…), I looked out of the window and saw the bag was tilted sideways on the tree - “I didn’t put it that way!” - and there was a squirrel, finally curious enough about the feeder to take a nut (a few, actually) out of the hanging version! I also got some video Sunday morning (I recorded it from a window in the rain) of another squirrel getting some nuts out of the feeder, but I don’t have that video edited yet and quite honestly don’t really feel like working with it now… It took Chris’s squirrels a week to figure out the initial version of his Pillow Feeder, and it’s taken my squirrels a week to figure out this version of my Feeder project… The 2nd video at the bottom is a few shots of the squirrel getting some nuts out of the bag.

My first hanging squirrel getting a nut!

I wonder if they’ll stay interested… I noticed about an hour ago as I was setting things up again that the squirrel feeder that the bag feeder was hanging on is extremely loose from it’s base, so I moved the feeder bag back over to the birdfeeder area. I wonder if they’ll be as interested in the new place - it’s now hanging where the food is more visable, my camera’s sitting on the ground (completely covered up - it’s supposed to rain again, but I’m taking a chance) and I have nuts sticking out from the bag to see if they’ll venture over that way.

 

 BBFP 11-11-06 Upshot, Birds, 450Kbps Version [4:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

 

 BBFP 11-11-06 Upshot, Squirrels, 450Kbps Version [3:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

In a reply to Chris’s original “Hefty bags are best” post…

“Yes, four out of five squirrels say they prefer Hefty bags to other, smaller makes!“

Based on additional independant usage surveys among bag-conscious woodland creatures, two out of three raccoons agree!…

…but given the same product test in similar usability surveys among birds, the avian consumers, such as grackles, bluejays and crows depend on and defend their Ziploc™ brand bags with ferocity…

All pictures in this post © Zach Glenwright.

Ziploc™ is copyright SC Johnson Corporation and Hefty™ is copyright Pactiv Corporation… just to be safe!…

Here’s a squirrel not content with just one feeder. He starts off on the ground and then visits the pillow feeder, the tray feeder, and ends up in the birdfeeder for the last course. Maybe the sunflower seeds just taste different from different feeders?

This post, as well as the picture and video from it 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…

 

 Four course lunch, 11-9-06 [3:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Here’s an almost perfect demonstration of the hanging technique on the pillow feeder. I say “almost” but you’ll have to wait until the end of the clip to find out why.

This post, as well as the picture and video from it 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…

 

 Almost perfect!, 11-9-06: Play Now | Play in Popup

Yes, four out of five squirrels say they prefer Hefty bags to other, smaller makes!

(I wonder if the makers of Hefty bags would be interested in this for a commercial? )

This post and the picture from it 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…

Last night I filled the pillow feeder with sunflower seeds, putting them all down at the far end away from the opening. I wanted to see if the squirrels would still make the effort to use this feeder when the contents weren’t the more highly sought after peanuts, but just plain old seed.

This morning I see that the bag has been shaken up so that the seeds have moved down to the open end, making them easily accessible, and at least one squirrel is happy to go through the balancing act to get them (see clip below).

This post, as well as the picture and video from it 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 with Sunflower seeds, 11-9-06 [3:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Thanks to Chris Osborne of The Backyard Voyeur trying his own version of my project, I took a tip from his version - the elevated project. I’ve never really considered doing a Backyard Bag Feeder mat hanging in the air, but he tried it and it worked for him, so I figured I’d try my hand at it too! Not only do I now have a verticially hanging feeder instead of the ground-level feeder, I also (because of that setup) now have a up-shot technique with the camera - since the Feeder mat is above ground-level, I can put the camera on an angle and get an elevated shot of the squirrels checking it out! During this test, however, I didn’t get any squirrel activity on the project itself, but I got all kinds of squirrel activity above - including a squirrel scuffle about 5 minutes into the video! If you don’t want to sit through all 5 minutes of the feed to see that, I also included a smaller video of just the fight at the bottom of this post.

 

 BBFP 11-9-06 Upshot, 450Kbps Version [7:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

 

 BBFP 11-9-06 Squirrel Scuffle, 450Kbps Version [0:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

I refilled the feeder at lunchtime today and had to be out this afternoon, but before I left I did capture the first lunching squirrel using the side entry technique to get the nuts out of the bag (see clip below).

When I got back at about 5pm, all the nuts had gone again. This is going to cost me a fortune in roasted peanuts, so I think perhaps tomorrow I’ll put some sunflower seeds in there and see if the squirrels are still tempted to go through the balancing act for those instead.

This post, as well as the picture and video from it 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…

 

 Too easy... again!, 11-8-06 [2:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Yesterday afternoon I rebuilt the pillow feeder (had to, they’d gone through all three layers of plastic) and refilled it with nuts. Lunchtime today, every single nut has gone and there are no holes in the pillow at all, so they must have figured out how to get in and out from the open side. I think I can safely say that as a feeder, this is definitely a big success. As a challenge, a total failure, though. Unfortunately there’s no way to tell whether only one squirrel has figured it out or whether several have been feeding here, but if it is only the one squirrel he sure must be getting fat!

This post and the picture from it 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…

…here is the video from the beginning of the Pillow Feeder Project’s feed from Monday — this is how the squirrel got into the top of the bag… I was going to post this the morning of 11-7, but I both went to bed early and overslept, so… here it is now for those interested…

“Just…a little… more!”

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 AM Session, 11-6-06 [9:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Did I imply that this feeder would be too tough for the squirrels? I should have known better. The main onslaught began at lunchtime, and as you’ll see from the clip below, the technique was a simple one. First make a hole in the top, which a squirrel had already done earlier, then go in through the hole, grab a nut and get out. It was that easy.

I didn’t capture everything because for the last half hour or so I was building the clip, but when I went back to look at the feeder at about 1.45, every reachable nut had gone. So much for tough challenges!

This post, as well as the picture and video from it 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…

 

 Eating my words, 11-6-06 [4:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

The feeder was attacked pretty seriously at breakfast this morning, though the nuts at the bottom remain intact. Interestingly, the squirrel is using the same technique as before: going in through the top, presumably by sitting on the top and digging down. This isn’t really a successful strategy given that all the nuts are at the bottom, so I’m waiting to see if they figure that out and try something different. I intend to leave this one up where it is, even though the chances of actually catching a live shot of a squirrel attack are more remote than when it was nearer ground level, and just see how long it takes for them to figure out a way to get at all those tempting peanuts.

This post and the picture from it 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…

My version of the Mark 2, with my unique spin, and me, but only s l i g h t l y…

Well, I made my own version of the Mark 2 Pillow Feeder (basicially combining my original Backyard Bag Feeder design and the Mark 2’s vertical orientation) and have a ground-level camera looking up at it… It’s basicially the same design as Chris’s version of the Mark 2, but my father had an idea and designed a dowel-eyering-hanger method of hanging it up which restricts the whole thing to a total of 180º of motion - good for both the shot and the squirrels! A little sidenote here - he’s designed and built most if not all of my fixtures for my project, the wooden platforms, the overhead shot rail system, ground-level 6″ tripod mounts, etc., etc., just not the bag feeder design and idea themselves - so I wanted to get his unique take on the idea…

Of course, having history as my guide with these radicially new kinds of projects, I really have absolutely no confidence in this working today. I didn’t have peanuts, so I had to use various shelled nuts and seeds… There are construction people that are going to be all over tomorrow, so there’s a whole bunch of distraction there! Let’s see… usually, the squirrels around here seem to nitpick everything for a few weeks until they finally make the jump (in this case, quite literally), it’s coooold around here now (do I ever stop complaining about the weather?), there’s cables and cameras (one for now anyway) looking at it that weren’t there before, and it just took so long to put together, it just has to fail (oh, and I’m a pessimist sometimes too…) Of course, I could be proven wrong! I didn’t record the Cam 4 feeder at all last night (but I did check in once and see a squirrel on the rope), so I’m not sure if this version of the feeder will be even noticed - maybe it needs to be about a foot off of the ground?

We will see… at least it’s right next to the bird feeder, so maybe that’ll help it a little…

Same shot, 6:35am EST, with noticable squirrel in the background!

I was watching the squirrels from the window, and aside from an early one that got into the side of the bag, the rest have been going up and down the rope behind it without taking the hint. Judging from their pauses and inspections I’d say they all recognize this feeder, even though it’s moved, but because the nuts were on the wrong side they couldn’t see them, so they just passed by. I have now turned the bag around so that the nuts can be seen by the squirrels who use the rope to go to and from the tree, but unfortunately the lighting on this side isn’t too good. Still, you never know and perhaps we’ll still catch something interesting.

This post and the picture from it 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…

The pillow feeder has moved to camera 4 and is now suspended about five feet above ground, which would be a challenge to even the most athletic squirrel if it were just hanging there, but it is also on the same stand as the very popular tray feeder and only about a foot away, so any squirrel on the tray will see the nuts tempting it. There is a rope behind the feeder too, so access is hard but not impossible. I don’t know if any of the squirrels will be up to taking this on, but nothing ventured … and all that. We’ll see.

I see peanuts … but can I get at them … ?

This post and the pictures from it 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…

As promised yesterday, here is the video from yesterday’s morning session, the session that seemingly did away with the current version of the Mark 2 Pillow Feeder…

Balancing act!

As I watched the video as it was going on, I thought that maybe half as much went on as did on the morning of the 3rd… but I was wrong! The final edited version of everything that went on on the 4th turned out to be nearly a half an hour long! (once again, sorry to the people that prefer the ‘condensed version’…) The squirrels (it seemed like it was just one Gray squirrel this time) worked and worked on the bag, especialy training it’s attention to the bottom of the feeder, where all of the nuts were located after Chris turned the foam around! Nothing stands in the way of a squirrel and it’s nuts! There was one strange thing I saw though - there was at least one point much later on where a squirrel was chewing on the Nu-Foam material in the inner bag (was that where the other peanuts were hidden?) It did not eat it, it just chewed on it for about 3 seconds and spit it out - still… strange… maybe that section had a hint of peanut left on it? Or, maybe it was sizing up the Nu-Foam as quality nest-building material…?

I watched the new incarnation of the Pillow Feeder a little while last night too, just checking in here and there… I couldn’t tell exactly what was going on though - what’s in the feeder now? are they supposed to go in through the sides? I rolled on it for a somewhat shorter time than the other nights (about 45 minutes) towards the end of the night, and I didn’t see any interested squirrels (one or 2 passed by, and one crawled on the top of the feeder, but they quickly left) … maybe the morning will spell the outcome of this new design?

As for my test with my squirrels, I’m going to try to make a similar hanging feeder project next week if I get some time to devote to it… only I’m going to suspend mine a little higher off of the ground than the Pillow Feeder - I wonder if it’ll work as well 3 feet up…? They won’t be able to get to it from the ground, only be able to hang off of the sides of it… somehow I doubt it’ll do well, but I didn’t think any suspended bag feeder would work and I was proven wrong!

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 Mark 2 Mornings, 11-4-06 [29:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

I wasn’t around for breakfast this morning but judging from this, it was hectic. There goes another version of the feeder, well chewed through again.

Footnote: When I recovered the feeder and took it apart, there wasn’t one single nut left. They’d got all the nuts in the holes plus every nut that was hidden behind, too. Remarkable. Now it’s time to consider giving them a greater challenge, but offhand I can’t think of anything they wouldn’t figure out how to defeat!

This post and the picture from it 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…