When you first encounter the Yankee Flipper bird feeder, you may be somewhat shocked at the idea of hurling squirrels forcibly off of the feeder. Many onlookers fear that the innocent creatures may be hurt; that the three or four foot drop from the feeder is potentially harmful.
After some observation, however, you’ll notice that squirrels are resilient creatures who tend to land on their feet. There are no reported incidents of squirrels being damaged by their fall from the Yankee Flipper, and they rapidly learn to avoid it in any case – so an individual squirrel will not keep trying to jump onto the feeder.
Once you’ve satisfied yourself that the Yankee Flipper doesn’t hurt the squirrels, your next concern is almost certain to be how effective the feeder really is. Aren’t there other ways to get at the seed? Can the squirrels dislodge the top cap, or hang down from the top to reach the feeding holes?
But the Yankee Flipper bird feeder has been designed by serious and thoughtful people, who have considered all the possible avenues a squirrel might use to approach the feeder. The top cap is snug and tight-fitting, so no squirrel can dislodge it; the diameter of the feeder is much too large for the squirrel to grasp; the height is too far for a dangling squirrel to reach. No possibility has been overlooked.
The Yankee Flipper is, however, designed to prevent problems with the gray squirrel… and other animals represent different problems. You’ll find that chipmunks and red squirrels are not heavy enough to activate the spinning perch, and if you have difficulty with raccoons, they’ll quickly run down the batteries. The raccoon is, after all, far more tenacious than the gray squirrel.
But the real issue for most feeder owners has always been the gray squirrel. The only avenue for a squirrel to reach the feeder is by standing on a nearby object and leaning forward to the Yankee Flipper; by resting only its front paws on the perch, it may be able to avoid activating the pressure mechanism. To avoid this, make sure to hang the feeder at least eighteen inches away from nearby branches or other perches a squirrel might use.
A hidden benefit of the Yankee Flipper bird feeder is the way it responds to snow; once snow builds up on the perch, the weight of the snow will also activate the perch, spinning the snow off and allowing the birds an easy perch. (Ice still poses a difficulty; in the event of ice storms or freezing rain, you may want to bring the feeder into the house until the weather passes.)
Once you’ve examined the care and planning that have gone into the Yankee Flipper bird feeder, you’ll almost certainly want to have one in your own yard; after all, once you know the squirrels aren’t being hurt, it’s terribly amusing to watch them fly from the spinning perch.