From: <carolinabirds-request...> <carolinabirds-request...> on behalf of Nate Dias <carolinabirds...>
Date: Sunday, February 8, 2026 at 3:07 PM
To: CarolinaBirds <carolinabirds...>
Cc: Chris Hill <chill...>
Subject: Re: bird box squirrel preventer
Chris, a company called Coveside Conservation Products makes squirrel/predator guards for nest boxes. The slate guards keep things (including woodpeckers) from enlarging the holes. They use defective / discarded slate roofing tiles to make them. I think a flycatcher box uses a 2.5” hole and they seem to have those in stock.
On Sunday, February 8, 2026, Christopher Hill <carolinabirds...><mailto:<carolinabirds...>> wrote:
Hi all,
I have a box that Great Crested Flycatchers nest in every spring and summer. In the winter some squirrel always makes it their personal project to enlarge the hole and turn it into a squirrel nest. I would like to install a metal guard with 1 5/8" hole (or whatever, I'd have to go back and check the proper diameter) to prevent a third re-occurrence when I reclaim the box for flycatchers this spring. Just a piece of sheet metal with a hole and no sharp edges or burrs (so I don't want to try freehanding with tin snips, for example). Googling doesnm't work for any combination of words I have come up with - infinite places wanting to sell you baffles for a pole, but no metal hole guards. Anybody have an idea or a source?
CH
Chris Hill, Ph.D.
Professor
Biology Department
Coastal Carolina University
Office: Douglas 207H
(843) 349-2567
email: <chill...><mailto:<chill...>
"These days I prefer to hunt with a camera. A good photograph demands more skill from the hunter, better nerves and more patience than the rifle shot." -- Bror Blixen
