Warrior Squirrels
Recently enjoyed a visit with my daughter and son-in-law out of state. Returned home to learn from the housesitter (and see) that my bird feeder was missing. A small tube-style, hanging from the eave on a large, substantial iron hook--meant for much heavier plants.
Feeder was nowhere--not under the deck, down the hill, or on the roof. I knew it would take some pretty muscle-bound squirrels to drag it up to the roof, but not impossible.
What was more amazing to me was that the hook was (and still is!) gone gone gone.
Rough times at home had me thinking "could someone have stolen it? and why?" or perhaps the recently-moved-out spouse thought to claim it for his new home, although highly unlikely since bird-feeding wasn't his pastime or a particularly affordable hobby, either.
I replaced the feeder, added a new wire coat hanger hook.
A couple weeks later, for a variety of reasons (bird-feeding can be barely affordable), I lapsed in setting out the daily wildlife chow for the host of squirrels. A couple cups of cracked corn, peanuts, etc., would be just dribbled along the deck rail each morning. It was intended as a bit of a decoy from the big feeder (there have been three in all), but wasn't especially successful. The largest feeder hangs from a large free-standing plant hook and has a wire squirrel deterrent cage which merely prevents them from chewing the plastic tube which actually holds the feed.
On top of that lapse, I let the two small tube feeders go empty, and then the large squirrel-deterrent cage enclosed feeder go empty, too. Ooooh-boy. Big mistake.
Came home Friday afternoon and discovered both tube feeders and hangers down and gone. We were due for fresh snow so I went looking, knowing I'd see nothing of the mostly clear plastic with a little green feeders once the snow landed on top of the entirely ivy bedded yard. I found one feeder, still intact and in good shape, three yards or halfway down the hill from the deck. The hanger was next to the window.
The second feeder I discovered had been dragged under the deck. There, the squirrels had gnawed the plastic perches off, the plastic tube around each feeding perch was gnawed, and, of course, the feeder was quite empty (which it was that morning, so why did they feel compelled to take it?). I still haven't found the second hanger.
My blessings are that in the Warrior Squirrels' (there's a gang of seven big and fat grays, plus a second tribe of two baby grays that are more rust than gray, and a loner black one) determination to get the feeders down--now three of them gone, two recovered--they have not broken the window. Their only way to reach them is to hang from the roof or leap from a nearby tree. As I've seen them eyeing and heard, once, the leap and crash against the window, I consider this a great blessing. Those guys are very fat!
My second blessing? I can help the Michigan economy some more by keeping the feeders filled!
Feeder was nowhere--not under the deck, down the hill, or on the roof. I knew it would take some pretty muscle-bound squirrels to drag it up to the roof, but not impossible.
What was more amazing to me was that the hook was (and still is!) gone gone gone.
Rough times at home had me thinking "could someone have stolen it? and why?" or perhaps the recently-moved-out spouse thought to claim it for his new home, although highly unlikely since bird-feeding wasn't his pastime or a particularly affordable hobby, either.
I replaced the feeder, added a new wire coat hanger hook.
A couple weeks later, for a variety of reasons (bird-feeding can be barely affordable), I lapsed in setting out the daily wildlife chow for the host of squirrels. A couple cups of cracked corn, peanuts, etc., would be just dribbled along the deck rail each morning. It was intended as a bit of a decoy from the big feeder (there have been three in all), but wasn't especially successful. The largest feeder hangs from a large free-standing plant hook and has a wire squirrel deterrent cage which merely prevents them from chewing the plastic tube which actually holds the feed.
On top of that lapse, I let the two small tube feeders go empty, and then the large squirrel-deterrent cage enclosed feeder go empty, too. Ooooh-boy. Big mistake.
Came home Friday afternoon and discovered both tube feeders and hangers down and gone. We were due for fresh snow so I went looking, knowing I'd see nothing of the mostly clear plastic with a little green feeders once the snow landed on top of the entirely ivy bedded yard. I found one feeder, still intact and in good shape, three yards or halfway down the hill from the deck. The hanger was next to the window.
The second feeder I discovered had been dragged under the deck. There, the squirrels had gnawed the plastic perches off, the plastic tube around each feeding perch was gnawed, and, of course, the feeder was quite empty (which it was that morning, so why did they feel compelled to take it?). I still haven't found the second hanger.
My blessings are that in the Warrior Squirrels' (there's a gang of seven big and fat grays, plus a second tribe of two baby grays that are more rust than gray, and a loner black one) determination to get the feeders down--now three of them gone, two recovered--they have not broken the window. Their only way to reach them is to hang from the roof or leap from a nearby tree. As I've seen them eyeing and heard, once, the leap and crash against the window, I consider this a great blessing. Those guys are very fat!
My second blessing? I can help the Michigan economy some more by keeping the feeders filled!
posted by Cecilia Ann | 11:05 AM
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