Ok so as of tonight, here's what I've done so far:
- removed the table plates (and certainly not scattering bird food on the ground anymore) -- all bird food is now on feeders hanging from the pole
- removed bird bath from the ground -- it's now on the table, which is probably dumb since rats can surely access it for a drink, but for now it is what it is
- added seed-catchers (home made) under the feeders
- added a home-made baffle to the pole to prevent climbing (used a Pure Leaf plastic bottle, drilled a hole into the bottom, placed it on the pole, wrapped a couple of pieces of duct tape strictly around the pole to make a bit of a lip to help keep the baffle in place)
Here's what else I want to do:
- buy hulled sunflowers instead of the classic hulled black oil sunflowers I've been using (for less mess since less mouth maneuvering to open seeds equals less chance of intact seeds ending up on ground, or so I say anyway)
- buy high quality mixed seed (for less discarding -- the sparrows especially seem to discard the corn)
Here's what a good link to deterring rats from bird feeders, including a good video on how to make a seed-catcher: https://birdslife.co.uk/how-to-stop-attracting-rats-to-bird-feeders
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