Building the Perfect Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder

this is a bird feeder and everything to my left is my attempt at making a squirrel trip if they want the birdseed they will first need to pass through what is basically an eight part ninja warrior' obstacle course for squirrels this course is extremely challenging it is not for the timid of heart but out of the gate I will admit that in hindsight that I completely underestimated my adversary now if you're wondering why I would go through all this trouble when you go back eight weeks ago when I found myself stuck at home and very bored so I installed a bird feeder and decided to become a bird watcher and it was just so lovely until they showed up now luckily my bird feeder had a wire cage around it big enough for the birds to slip inside but small enough to prevent the squirrels from getting the food and that worked really well until right here for me this was like the moment in Jurassic Park when they realized the velociraptors can open door handles and once the door was open it was clear this wasn't their first rodeo they basically cleared this whole tube of birdseed by the end of the day mind you this bird feeder was advertised as being squirrel proof so I bought another squirrel-proof birdfeeder to replace it it's got this outer cage suspended by some Springs and so if a bird comes and lands here it doesn't weigh that much and it has access to the seeds however a squirrel comes go grab onto this cage its weight will force the springs down thereby preventing access to the seeds I have no idea how the squirrels could possibly outsmart this but let's see and this one worked exactly as intended you can see the birds love it but when the squirrel comes along the cage shifts down and now all the seed ports are covered up every time they tried it was the same results however the next morning this guy manages to unclip the springs that hold the cage up which means the cage stays in the lowered position where it blocks all the seed openings problem with that is now they can get to the lid but this bird feeder lid doesn't hinge open to give direct access so he goes with a different tactic where he now has access to all the birdseed he wants and so I decided I would try one more bird for your design okay wow it almost feels intentional at this point this one is supposed to work well because it's got this which is supposed to keep the squirrels from just coming straight down and getting into the seeds and more importantly there's no way for them to rip this off we'll see this one debuted to similar results as he hangs by a few toes this is what I really started to gain an appreciation for what they were capable of it definitely seemed like this bird feeder was their favorite okay yeah they're flexing on me for sure and at this point a plan was forming in my head but just to be thorough I moved the post away from the fence and I can't say I was surprised when they just climbed it nor was I surprised to see they could shimmy up and down a small metal pole or even a large one for that matter and was that they could climb a certain pole material was a moot point anyways because of this look at this these guys are basically freakin rodents eyes Simone biles and on some level this is what it felt like when someone stole a package from my porch that didn't belong to them and I harnessed that indignation spending a year designing the glitter bombe package hello complete with special fragrances if I could design a package to deter thieves could I design a birdfeeder to deter squirrels and so after a couple weeks of brainstorming designing and building with my buddy John we put it all together in this 20 second build montage here are the basic elements for starters here's where I've placed their favorite bird feeder at the end of the course and to sweeten the deal right below that there's a trapdoor and if they step here it releases a butt ton of walnuts and unfurl some celebratory dinners why walnuts I'm glad you asked I'm using walnuts because over the course of the week I put out of a Fae of seven different nuts and seeds and all four times I repeated the experiment walnuts were always the one they ate first what's great about placing this here is it levels the playing field as the birds can fly up and get as much food as they want anytime they need it the squirrels however will have to work for it because the only way to make it to this platform is if they work their way through my eight-part Ninja Warrior obstacle course which all starts right here this is the only platform on the course that has a pole that isn't covered in slippery stuff which means this is where they have to climb up to enter the course if they try and get up any other way they can't keep a good grip and they just slide back down so the first challenge is the bridge of instability now this may look easy but the trick is it attaches at a single point on each end and from a physics standpoint that makes it no different than trying to crawl across the tightrope it's the same deceptive principle with that one carnival game that's so impossible I broke it down in another video where I use physics to show which carnival games were basically scams and the science on how to beat them next up the maze of a thousand corridors this one's a bit more cerebral but if they make it through that it will bring them to the pitch fork tumblers which are inspired by the show wipeout but unlike wipeout I should point out that all these contraptions are squirrel friendly and even with a little back force they will break away and stop spinning now if they can make it past the pitchfork tumblers of treachery they come to one of my personal favorites the homewrecker I put her in the temptu squirrel to lose focus on the real prize at the end of the course because this pad has a pressure sensor underneath it and it connects to a microcontroller that has a relay that connects to a solenoid that connects to a pneumatic piston that connects back to this platform with the pressure sensor and so if they stand here for more than three seconds they've got to start the course all over again next up is the slinky bridge of deception I'm suspended a juicy walnut right in the middle but there's no way this bridge will support their weight so it'll be interesting to see how they approach it the six challenge is called the tourist trap it's actually a bit of a reward for making it this far if the squirrel sticks their head through this board my wife painted it's just a photo-op they can hang on the wall of their tiny squirrel nests a place of walnut here is an incentive for them not to miss this unique opportunity the penultimate challenge are the quad steps of great elevation this is taken straight from Ninja Warrior and this is super tricky because these pads are all totally smooth and placed at a 45-degree incline and now for the last challenge at this point they are a mere few feet away from their ultimate goal but if they're not careful they'll have to deal with the orbital assist platform aka the final countdown aka it's not a catapult it's a squirrel of bolts which means they now have to go back and start all the way over from the beginning now if they want to avoid that fate they just need to stand on this pad for less than three seconds but once again I've placed a diversion here this would projects an optical illusion of anything you place in the bottom of this dish it's actually super trippy and looks even more impressive in real life because the projected image is 3d they're like nine bucks on Amazon and I put a leaf that explains the juicy physics of how they work in the video description now with regards to squirrel safety I know I seem to have this reputation of improvised high-speed projectiles and so this one might worry a few animal lovers out there including my wife we have five pets and one child and the child was the only one I had a say in so rest assured I can adjust the pressure on the piston and we'll be seeing way below any launch force that could hurt any of our adorable backyard contestants and so finally after making through all that we're back here at the world's most satisfying bird feeder as far as I'm concerned if they make it here they've earned the right to gorge next to the birds for as long as they want and so after nearly a month of prep work the course was officially open for business they could smell the walnuts at the final station and you can see the gears turning because right above that was their favorite bird feeder and so before long we had our first contender that [Music] didn't exactly go as planned so Rick decides to regroup speaking of which that's Rick there are a total of four competitors that will be attempting the course first up is Rick and he weighs 500 grams I know this because he's actually standing on a custom-made scale Rick is very clever as you'll see here in a minute but he also gets spooked easily next up is Marty he's basically indistinguishable from Rick Rick and Marty are inseparable and pretty much spend all their time together as a pair our third contender is Frank also coming in around 500 grams he's very gutsy he's also kind of done finally we've got my personal favorite fat Gus he's just really charming and will strike a pose if he sees a camera he also really likes to eat any tips the scales and an impressive 800 grams well those are the squirrels are kind of particular before making a selection and then gracefully leaping away that Gus just goes for it hands-free just makes himself real comfortable here he is laying out with a light snack from the bird feeder I mean you can't fault the guy for just clearly appreciating a good meal so now that you know our four contenders let's get back to Rick so he hops back on and he's actually doing better than his first attempt just barely this is the best because he's like okay I got this never well maybe I know I definitely don't and this was the exact moment I realized I just might be outmatched here marty was watching Rick and after a quick tip of his toes in the water adopts a strategy right out of the gate so close but an excellent recovery in fact gasps perhaps predictably comes up a little short which brings us to the maze of a thousand corridors which to be honest they mastered this one pretty quickly here's a solid run from fat gasps and now for the pitchfork tumblers of treachery marty was like yeah that's a hard pass bad Gus is just like abort Frank is just like nope then he's like wait a second hmm still nope then Marty flies in real hard over the top he didn't make it through but that's partial credit as far as I'm concerned and then here's bad Gus with my favorite attempt by far and then Frank shows no fear which helps him pull up this near flawless run and finally smart Rick surgically weaves his way through essentially untouched and I should mention the squirrels were most active from 6:00 to 10:00 a.m. so every morning I've been getting up before the sunrise to start filming from in my house like one of those camouflage nature photographers only like a suburbanite version I've also had a handful of streaming cameras rolling 24/7 which has allowed me to make such discoveries as we have the world's worst guard dog thanks for the help al now back to the home wrecker you could see Rick is instinctively suspicious of this gold digger and only for a brief moment puts his full weight on the platform I told you is smart his buddy Marty on the other hand [Applause] she is a cruel mistress and because I know my wife is going to ask me no this will not hurt the squirrel for two reasons number one they are amazing like cats and always land on their feet and two they themselves were jumping from this height all the time and in some cases much higher in fact squirrels are one of the few mammals that can survive a fall from any height because they make their terminal velocity so low you can see it right here they make their body as flat as possible then put their tail back to increase drag they basically become their own parachute and then right before they land they pull in and fully extend their arms and legs to act as shock absorbing landing gear this is so cool now back to the course we're even smart Rick eventually lets his guard down which is exactly when she strikes but just like all the other obstacles so far after a day or two they'd mastered it in this case even disregarding her offering of a fresh walnut now onto the slinky bridge of deception and this was the sleeper obstacle in my book that is not a large gap which they can easily jump but having the slinky there just threw them off somehow you can see how much Frank is struggling here and he's the brave one and Rick only jumps when Marty shows up for emotional support but like all the obstacles so far after a day or two they'd mastered it now on to our third to last obstacle the tourist trap and this one was just a freaking delight a little peanut butter really did the trick here [Music] now here comes Fat Gus and I mean how fat Gus is this he sees the camera and he's like paid to me like one of your french squirrels yeah no no takers all right here's another classic Gus where he looks at the camera wait a second play that back and freeze Jun enhance [Music] well turns out fat Gus is not a dude and he's pregnant which meant I was suddenly feeling real uncomfortable about all those weight comments so after a bit of a pivot to smooth things over we soldiered on to the quad steps of great elevation Frank comes in rather confident almost to his demise but he pulls off the smooth recovery so after not much time at all they were looking pretty good here in fact one morning I notice Marty totally skipped the last step altogether which I took as a challenge and so I removed the middle step to see what they would do and who else but fantastic Gus let's slow that down a bit there's such amazing jumpers so I suppose the quick master here wasn't a surprise I mean this right here is probably a 10 foot job and here's some classic brave but dumb Frank he'd already entered the course normally and made it to the homewrecker at least a dozen times by this point and if for some reason he decides this 12-foot jump is his best course of action smart Rick was the first one to enter the course so in the end after about a week of effort it was fitting he was the one to make it to the jackpot first and he's so stoked he apparently wants to run the whole course in Reverse the nitesite we probably should have made the jackpot a little quieter here's Marty as always not far behind [Music] he's also a bit flighty as you know which worked against him here because down below fantastic us ever the opportunist comes through with the real stroke of brilliance but pretty soon Marty comes back like um I'm the one who kind of and then fantastic Gus is like you snooze you lose and let me just say fantastic us when you sit like that you don't look at Alice over 700 grams eventually they learned that sound was a good thing and they quickly returned for the reward before fantastic Gus got any ideas so here's a single camera shot of a full run and by the end all of them could do the full course in less than 40 seconds and while we're watching you might be wondering what happen to the squirrel apud unfortunately they didn't really fall for my illusion much but I'm about to show you the two times they did and as a promise to my wife I turned the pressure to only 40% full power so the acceleration the squirrel would feel is about half a G which is ten times less than a typical rollercoaster additionally I never turned on either the homewrecker trapdoor or the launch platform when I wasn't actively watching from inside my house where I had a manual override button because as safe as it was something about launching fantastic Gus just didn't feel right now what you're about to see is gonna look pretty chaotic but when we check the slow-mo amazingly I'll show you how the squirrel is totally in control pretty much the whole time all right now here's a second angle also even if you don't trust my calculations I can assure you that the squirrels did not care in both launch cases they were back up on the course in like five minutes here's the slow-mo and see if you can spot the two critical things he does to make sure he lands feet down did you catch it the first critical moment is right here he's already done the predictive math and he's locked his head on the spa where he plans to land and now his head will not lose that lock the whole way down what's crazy is the time it takes him to do all the predictive math to know exactly where he will land into lock his head is 300 milliseconds that's exactly this long literally less than the blink of an eye that blows my mind but if you think about it it makes sense these reactions would have evolved to be razor-sharp if you live your life in the trees constantly making split-second decisions and besides picking the landing spot with his head the second trick is with his arms when he wants to keep his upper body from rotating he has his arms out but the moment he wants to rotate his upper body quickly he tucks them in and then when he wants to stop rotating he extends them out again this is straight up conservation of angular momentum it's the same trick ice skaters use basically bring your lives in if you want to rotate fast extend them out if you want to slow the rotation my buddy Destin from smarter every day also made a video analyzing how cats always land on their feet and they do the exact same two tricks the head target lock and bringing Lynde's in to rotate and out to stop rotation here's the second launch and this may look like pure luck in real time but the slow-mo tells a different story in that amount of time he's already made a slight lateral push in that direction and locked his landing target with his head we know from the previous clip he can rotate his body to any orientation but he doesn't in this case because he sees his small push has already aligned him for the perfect landing that's just so cool and so after those two physics demonstrations I disabled both the launcher and the homewrecker trapdoor and just let them enjoy the course in peace as far as I was concerned they had earned it plus after spending a month together we were sort of broke by this point if they saw me coming out to work they would certainly jump away but then they just quickly be right back and sadly all good things must come to an end and because I didn't want them to develop an unhealthy dependence on my handouts after about a week of free rein I took down the course but in its place I put up a specialized squirrel size picnic table every morning this store opens to release just a few walnuts as a little treat to remind them of our good times together although I had to laugh that after all this somehow I didn't anticipate on day one Frank would immediately try and figure out and partially succeed in finding a way to beat the system like everything else so they quickly caught on and now on some mornings I'll catch them just waiting for the daily ration chilling patiently on the bench seat that is everyone but fantastic gusts don't ever change buddy when I started this two-month long adventure trying to birdwatch I had no idea I would enjoy squirrel watching so much more it's also made me realized that even amongst the structures and pavement and powerlines how interesting nature can be in a single suburban backyard if you just really stop the look even the plates are amazing I had no idea that his vines grow they spin around looking for something to grab on to I didn't anticipate the wide variety of animals that use fences as inner yard highways to get around as a substitute for all the trees that existed before we got here even little interactions like this spider extending his life with this very timely leap into the unknown we're just so delightful to see but of all the animals I can definitively say now that squirrels are my absolute favorite and there's certainly a more formidable adversary than for parks they're kind of adorable incredibly crafty curious by Nature athletic and persistent turns out squirrels can live to be 20 years old and so I like to think that someday a fantastic gust will bring his grand squirrels to the fence and regaled them with tales of cowboys and courage and legendary walnut piles if you find yourself bored and you like the idea of making a squirrel Ninja Warrior course but you don't have the skills or the squirrels then here's basically the next best thing for my friends a Kiwi ko if you somehow don't already know they deliver really cool monthly crates that are designed to flex your brain muscles as a maker and a creator and be really fun at the same time so for example this one comes with kid-friendly build instructions plus all the supplies we'll need to put it together so there's never any extra trips to the store each one also includes a booklet that talks about the science principles and where you might see examples of this in real life my family loves them and their headquarters is like a 10-minute bike ride for my house so I usually drop in to see their latest designs like this super clever air hockey build instead of having it ski will have all the air you do it in the puck check that the kids started but unfortunately with Destin and I they're turned into less long they have eight different crate lines that cover the full steam spectrum from science and engineering to art and design geared towards all different ages as well so if you want to support my channel and you a really fun way to grow your brain in all the right ways go to Cuba co.com slash mark rover or use the link in the video description and you'll get your first month free this also makes for a really great gift for any young person in your life so thanks to kiwi coat for being so awesome and thanks to you for watching

Channel: Mark Rober

Views: 45,214,301

Rating: 4.9537754 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: hFZFjoX2cGg

Length: 21min 39sec (1299 seconds)

Published: Sun May 24 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Graoutchmeuh]

I just watched 22 minutes of squirrel parkour, and I regret nothing.

[u/civil_war_historian]

I like the amount of respect he has for the squirrels. Granted he probably didn't want to get demonitized for animal abuse, it was still good to see how he designed the course to not hurt the squirrels.

[u/Airlockoveruse]

I feel like he should have pushed them a bit further. Those squirrels were hardly sweating. Definitely my pick for cutest vermin.

[u/NestroyAM]

I didn't see the Phat Gus twist coming at all...

[u/Ajgonefishin]

Now that was an amazing video

[u/Smittys_kid]

That was one of the best YouTube videos I've ever seen

[u/SheriffBartholomew]

Is this guy completely self funded and self produced? That’s the most entertaining YouTube video I’ve ever seen. He’s every bit as informative and thorough as myth busters were. Well done!

[u/mwjirwin]

Only Mark Rober could get me to watch 20 minutes of squirrels. This was epic

[u/AmBozz]

Mark Rober literally never disappoints. His videos are some of the highest quality stuff on YouTube.

Cute squirrels are just a bonus.