There are two kinds of people in this world: people who hate squirrels, and people who don’t have bird feeders.
To illustrate my point: visiting my parents early this year, I saw my dad leap up from the table and hiss like a cat, trying to scare squirrels off their bird feeder. “If you’re telling that story,” my dad says, “you should also mention I throw snowballs at them!”
Mark Rober’s methods of squirrel-deterrent are a little more high-tech than that.
“An Eight-Part Ninja Warrior Course”
Mark Rober used to be an engineer for Apple. If you’re not impressed–maybe you’re more of a Samsung person–he was also a NASA engineer. But, when his bird feeders were plagued by the four horsemen of the squirrelpocalypse–Frank, Marty, Rick, and Phat Gus–he first tried more conventional methods, turning to Amazon for bird feeders specially designed to ward off rodents. But, despite trying multiple feeders, the squirrels were, according to Rober, “flexing on me for sure.” With quarantine boring Rober, he decided it was time to up the ante. “If they want the birdseed, they will first need to pass through what is basically an eight-part ninja warrior obstacle course for squirrels,” he declares in a video uploaded to YouTube. (1, 2, 3)
The Process
The obstacle course took over a month to complete–and no wonder. Documenting the entire process on YouTube, the course was not for the faint of heart. “Squirrels were stealing my birdseed,” he captioned the video, clocking in at almost 22 minutes. “I solved the problem with mechanical engineering 🙂 .” The course featured jumps, mazes, “tumblers of treachery,” a photo-booth cowboy prop, and a femme fatale decoy squirrel, among other traps. He also set up 24/7 cameras to capture the action on the course. If the squirrels could make it through the course, they would be rewarded with walnuts. However, despite Rober’s best efforts, he “completely underestimated [his] adversary.” The four contenders succeeded in getting the prize. (1, 2, 3)
A Pandemic Trend?
Mark Rober isn’t the only person to engage in such a ‘squirrelly’ hobby. Steve Barley, a 55-year-old retired schoolteacher from England has also made the rodents work for their food. His obstacle course is NHS–the UK’s National Health Service–themed, as a tribute to front-line workers. His course only took a week to construct. In fairness, however, it was only 30 feet long. He’s been at this for ten years and has six themed squirrel obstacle courses. Additionally, his channel has making-of videos, squirrel facts, and some preliminary obstacle courses. (4, 5)
How It Ends
After a week, Rober took his course down, installing a contraption which would release walnuts once per morning. In no time at all one of the squirrels, Frank, managed to beat that too, of course. A former NASA and Apple engineer is apparently no match for the brainpower of squirrels. However, Mark Rober has no hard feelings about it. “Of all the animals,” he says in his video, “I can definitively say now, squirrels are my absolute favourite.” (1, 3)
