I'm dipping into the archives this week, taking comfort in the knowledge that all these wildflowers are still out there, waiting to awaken.
Another week, another inch of snow. It rained a bit yesterday and melted some of it, though. At 35 degrees, it felt like a heat wave.
On the plus side, when the snow was really deep the squirrel didn't make the trek from the woods to the bird feeder, so I was able to move it back to the hook on the deck where I could watch birds.
He's back now, though, and has brought a buddy. I've moved the feeder back to the post, and amuse myself by hanging various things between it and the post to block their raids: A toy racquet; two toy racquets; a piece of gutter pipe; the rack of an old roasting pan. (Really attractive. You can only get away with this stuff out here in the country.)
Each of my lame little ploys slowed them down for a day or so, but they always find a way around - which is actually pretty amusing to watch. I wouldn't mind them so much if they didn't chase away the birds.
I'm considering a new post away from the deck, with a baffle and weighted-lever feeder, but we're talking some money there.
I could try a decoy squirrel feeder with some cheap corn on the other side of the yard, but that feels like negotiating with terrorists.
Click here to visit Michelle's site and see more Nature Notes.
Posts
14 comments:
I have a red squirrel that comes to my feeder, but they are much less aggressive than the grey squirrels, it seems.
I look forward to the spring flowers, too, but I think that we're in for another bout of snow here.
Is that a Johnny Jump Up? Lovely spring flower. Ha! Love the idea of feeding the squirrel as negotiating with a terrorist.
Jedediah, these grays are really something. They sit there and stare at me, literally three feet away, ignoring my "shoo" noises. And they won't quit until the whole feeder is empty. I hate those guys.
Leora, it could be. I think it might be a little bigger than those, though. I suspect it escaped from a garden somewhere.
A flower, I have not seen a live flower for months. I need to pull up my old images as well. Thanks for the reminder that it can be warm and colorful again. I Have Cabin Fever, can you tell?
Squirrels are definitely tenacious. Lovely look back at flower season.
Such a beautiful post..i am craving flowers and spring and summer now! beautiful!
We have a baffle under one of or feeders to keep the squirrels from raiding that feeder. The squirrels find LOTS of seeds that the birds have discarded because they deemed the shells too hard to crack...or for whatever reason they toss seeds onto the ground.
We have two systems with the baffles and they work well. The feeder on the tree that is supposed to close when the squirrel weight pushes on it... well, it doesn't work. They simply hang upside down from the top and eat to their hearts content. Our baffles are slightly larger for raccoon.. the raccoon can shimmy on up them though. Fortunately, the two that visited for so long have either left or have been relocated. The possum, dear, fox and beaver have not.... and this is suburbia.. but on wetland preserve too.
He brought a buddy? There goes the neighborhood!
Beautiful flower.
Our squirrels haven't moved into the yard from the woods yet, but now that I've written this they probably will. We too have tried all sorts of makeshift barricades and baffles creating some lovely junk-on-a-stick yard ornaments. None worked. Many say large baffles will work IF the squirrels cannot jump onto the feeder from elsewhere. None of our feeders meet that requirement because we want the feeders where we can see them.
Time to Live - Thanks for stopping in! Welcome. For those of us in the frozen north, it does seem that all the life has gone from the world, doesn't it. Hope you get warm weather soon.
Carver, yeah. They are. I actually kind of like that about them. They "never give up, never surrender".
Kiki, me too!
EG and srp, the baffle ploy is the smartest thing, I think. We're looking into that. And it's OK with me if they get some fallen seeds. I don't even want to think about the raccoons coming back.
News - LOL! It looks that way.
Marvin - junk on a stick! I LOVE that! LOL
Love all the flowers....You can try feeding only safflower. The feeder birds will eat if and most of the squirrels find it too bitter as does the raccoon. Or you could try a diversion as in cracked corn which is what I put out as the feeder birds like that too. I put it on a boot tray... Thank you for your lovely comments.. I treasure them..Michelle
what a happy picture!!
Post a Comment