Well, my friend has a variety of feeders up that cater to different types of birds. The squirrels are interested in some of the stuff, but they don't seem to be emptying the feeders on a daily basis. Hardly. Maybe it's a question of what type of feeder you use and what you put in it. Finches, for example, eat these very tiny little black seeds in tall cylindrical feeders. The squirrels don't bother much with those. He has suet up for the woodpeckers. The squirrels don't bother with that either, as far as I know. I think it probably depends on what you're offering and how. All I know is, you have 15 or 20 different kinds of birds, plus 2 chipmunks, 3 or 4 grey squirrels and 2 red squirrels, and they're all having lots of fun there eating whatever suits them. The more the merrier.

I think the suburban feud people have with squirrels is due to one thing alone: people who are control freaks. Squirrels make far better neighbours than such people do, in my experience.