Squirrels gotta eat…
…too. Bird feeders, a free meal for the… squirrels. Smart creatures, they have broken into every bird feeder we have. How? Ingenious?! Ya gotta laugh. Hey! Squirrels gotta eat too.
We have trained cats. I whistle. The musical notes beckon Nutley and Tillie to come to the door. Out they scamper to chase the squirrels to no avail. But the cats know the drill and come right to the door. The squirrels run. The cats get exercise. The birds eat. All is right with the world order. How did that squirrel get inside the metal cage? Really?!
Cardinal in flight? Try it! It ain’t easy. Purely a lucky shot. I must have had my eyes closed.
Subject
It’s a hobby fer cris sakes! It’s pretty simple. I shoot what is around me. Family, birds, flowers, cats…. Easy. Edit. Choose. Blog and then post. You have no doubt guessed that I have/had a lot of cameras. I do not much collect old ones. I have lost cameras in various ways. I managed to “fry” on underwater even. Note: salt water is bad for camera electronics. There are even some times when Colleen uses my camera.
Subject? The only caveat to note is that I have cameras in multiple rooms and drive with one in the pocket or on the dashboard. And, still we miss opportunities now and again.
Home safe
The bird feeders were moved to the front balcony to get them away from the squirrels. It took a week, then, the squirrels found them and climbed to the balcony. Great! Just great! Willow got into the habit of climbing to the rail. Actually, he jumps up to the rail. One bright sunny day in the spring – this spring – everyone (cats) was sunning on the balcony. After the cats were in we did the routine ‘cat count.’ No Willow. I did another visual sweep of the balcony. No Willow. On the back deck through the locked door, sat Willow, peering in, calm as punch. Apparently, Willow had jumped off the front balcony and come around to the back steps, leaped the gate, and returned home. The concept of front and back of the house was familiar to Willow. He’d only yesterday gone over the gate (leaped) to explore the wide world. This information proved key to his return. Smart cat. Colleen nearly had a heart attack. And, I don’t know how we can let Willow out to sun on the deck again.
Around the bird feeder
I was keeping to posting one picture a day. Now, I cheat. I can get around my own rule by making a collage layout. Hey! I have too many images and so little time! The bird feeder is shared by one and all. The birds, a few, eat. The cats have Cat TV. The squirrels disrupt the whole show. (Hey! Squirrels gotta eat too.) My cat Nutley has now been trained (by me!) to go chase the squirrel and then return to the home so I don’t have to get cold on the deck. Ha! (I have to chase Nutley inside, instead.) And, the bonus, I get to take pictures of the proceedings. Colleen has to cajole me daily to go feed the birds. Who knew this could be so much work (fun?)?
Cat TV
There is dynamic interaction between my cats, the birds, and a family of squirrels. I feed the birds. Hey! Squirrels gotta eat too! So they do – the squirrels are all over the bird feeders. Everyone eats. I favor the birds. The cats enjoy the show. They are participating too. Nutley will go out on command and vainly chase after the squirrels. He returns when I call him back. Me? I photograph. I have to say that the darn Sony RR100 VI has a lens that is as good a telephoto as I would want in such a compact camera. Voila! Instant story!
Squirrel
I like their persistence. Mr. Squirrel has not figured out how to defeat the bird feeder yet. (The cage drops down over the feeder holes.) And, the cats would dearly love to play. In this case everyone goes away without what they want. I’m not ready to feed the squirrel and the cats won’t get a squirrel either. The little birdies win, I think.
Squirrels gotta eat too
We bought a squirrel proof bird feeder. It cost $$. Why don’t I want to feed squirrels too? I would have bought a squirrel feeder. The feeder was squirrel free until today. And it works. There is a cage that closes over the holes when the squirrel’s weight is on it. The squirrel was getting something, but not an entire meal. Seeds spilled. Some, including the squirrel buddy, chose the easier way to go, on the deck. At least in this exchange the birds get a higher percentage on the deal.
Squirrel
I got squirrels. Look on YouTube. There are hilarious videos of ways to combat squirrels at the feeder. The poor birds? Hey! Squirrels gotta eat too! …unless your wife thinks squirrels are furry rats. You can see two feeders. The first was like a buffet. The squirrels were putting on weight! The second, a cheap plastic, device was so flimsy it was destroyed in a day. The squirrels destroyed it in a day! Destroyed! In a day! So, I broke down. …. Birds gotta eat. The new feeder has stopped the squirrels. So, there’s no pic. Ha ha. No squirrels. There’s/that’s not a pic.
Squirrel
The squirrel returns. Hey! It could be a movie. Squirrels gotta eat! This one came back to the feeder. He was caught in the rain. His coat and tail were soaked. The poor guy was about as frightened as could be when I confronted him. He was so fat from feeding that he had trouble escaping the cage. Off he ran. Good riddance? Nope he was back again a day or two later. It’s never done.
Mother is the invention…
Ha ha, you might remember: Necessity is the mother of invention. But then, what do squirrels know? Look up youtube and you will see the mothers of all devices that attempt to prevent squirrels from eating at bird feeders. We got a feeder as a gift at Christmas. It took about a week for birds to discover it. That long?! A squirrel came by once and soon left. Ah! The cage works! Nah! Today the little rodent was inside the cage munching the snack mix. He’d already eaten the suet packages – one at a time on two consecutive days. I daresay he was so plump that he had difficulty escaping the bars when I confronted him directly. Just tapping my window pane drew only a sneer: come get me if you will. Now it’s full on war! Grease won’t work. Been there done that…
Hmmmm….aroused motivated cat?
Cat TV
By the time I get this post out, it will be winter into spring. Ha ha! We got a bird feeder. And now my cats gather to watch. They are mesmerized. They stare, sometimes in pairs, sometimes singly. The birds don’t mind. They are hungry and protected by the glass panes. No squirrels allowed! One finally found the feeder, made an attempt to eat, and then bounded away never to be seen again. The anti-squirrel cage works… for now. Why not feed the squirrels? We do it at the park. They are rodents in the rat and mouse family. At the house no! In the park, maybe?
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