Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
What Squirrels Think About
How to get into so-called squirrel-proof feeders.
Most of the time it isn't necessary to actually get into the feeder, but this little overachiever managed just that, as shown here in a classic shot from this blog in April of 2004. That particular feeder has been retired.
Currently, I have 2 feeders in the backyard in northern Virginia. The squirrels know at least a couple of ways to get seed out of both of them. Both feeders are suspended from tree branches using long hooks. The easiest way for the squirrels to get a small amount of seed out of them is to climb down the hook and then jump to the nearest tree trunk. This gets the feeder swinging and generally spills some seed out onto the ground.
Here's another technique they recently developed. This is one of those feeders where the perch is attached to a spring which closes a door over the seed if there's too much weight on the perch. Ah, but what if we ignore the perch?
Just climb down the hook and suspend yourself from the roof.
Oops, stay away from the perch, remember?
Now we can get down to serious eating.
They've determined that the spring on the side of the feeder has something to do with the door, and occasionally they pull it out. They did it again yesterday afternoon, causing me to go out, cursing, to put it back together.
Below, we have something I saw today for the first time. The suet feeder was added last week, replacing a different style of suet feeder. I thought the roof on the suet feeder would be slippery enough to keep the squirrels from getting a toehold. Wrong! I watched as this squirrel jumped from the nearest tree trunk onto the suet feeder and then grabbed hold of the seed feeder. Chow time! The dome over this seed feeder had been one of my most effective squirrel-deterrents.
Oh, there are birds too. More pictures later.
Thanks Frances, for planting the idea for this topic.
14 Comments:
That first photo really is a classic, Entangled - and just another proof that Henry Mitchell knew what he was talking about when he advised us on what to do in Winter:
Feed squirrels. This is the same as "feeding birds".
I can't stop laughing at your photos.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Don't you feel like the squirrels deserve something for their efforts? Of course, that's easy for me to say because so far we don't have many squirrels around here. I'm sure that will change as our trees mature.
Carol, May Dreams Gardens
Those squirrels are quite the acrobats aren't they! We have two squirrels that visit us regularly but none have offered us as good of a picture of your squirrel in the cage. Nice one!
Annie: Henry Mitchell got it exactly right! The squirrels here are probably relatives of the ones he was feeding.
I'm always glad to provide a laugh ;-)
Carol: Did you notice how chubby those squirrels are? But seriously, if I didn't at least try to prevent them from eating all the bird food, they would eat all the bird food. Just wait til you have squirrels of your own ;-)
Dave: Only two? How lucky you are!
LOL! I put up a suet feeder for the 1st time this year. I hung it on a garden crook. For a couple of weeks, the squirrels just looked at it longingly. Then, 1 of them figured something out, because 1 morning I looked out & saw the feeder lying on the ground. Oh, well - my garden's not called Squirrelhaven for nothing.
LOL!!! I keep giggling at the pictures, too--but the first one is still the best. :)
I have one squirrel who visits me regularly, and one chipmunk. When the squirrel gets to be too much of a pig I send the dog outside to chase him... *grin* Last week, this adorable little male purple finch (?) got a bit tired of Mr. Squirrel and started diving at him. So I sent Coco out to help.
this is really sweet pictures - squirrels are very smart, aren't they? Lovely pictures....
I just seat here on the sofa, cats are sleeping on me and still lauging at your pictures - thank you :)
OMG, these are just plain PRICELESS! I just woke up a few of the catchildren giggling at the squirrel-crobats. After all that work they deserve a treat. Well, yes, I know they are pesty...but without them, what would you have blogged about today? :-)
Mr. McGregor's Daughter: Oh, yes, I've seen that longing look that squirrels have! If I put out plain suet (no seeds in it), the squirrels will leave it alone, but the birds don't seem to like it as much either.
Blackswamp Girl: I'm glad to hear of the birds fighting back! The tenant next door had two very aggressive dogs, which I think kept the squirrel activity down, but the dogs and the tenant moved out a few weeks ago and the squirrels are back in force now.
Ewa: I think the squirrels are VERY smart - and entertaining. Although, yesterday I observed one chewing on an Epimedium - that's the bad side of them.
Jodi: Did the catchildren want to know what you were laughing at? ;-)
Squirrels are definitely blogworthy!
Unfortunately our squirrels (10 at last count) are similarly acrobatic, persistent, and are extremely strong. We have those mesh sunflower feeders and the squirrels have found out how to undo the spring loaded clasps that hold the top on. They take off the top and just sit there eating the seeds at their leisure.
The mesh of the oldest feeder is quite misshapened because they tried to rip it apart before they learned the unlatching skill. ;(
I don't think I could bend the steel mesh with my fingers as much as those 1 pound critters have done.
Hi there, Entangled :-)
I do hope you can join us in a bird count post this weekend :-D
Please leave me a comment if you do :-D
Ki: I had a suet feeder with a cage around it, similar to the Nuttery feeder in the picture, except the top was held on by a spring. Our squirrels figured out the same thing - how to get the top off. I wrapped wire around it so they couldn't do that, but then they found a loose bar on the cage and pried that open. I could go on and on....this has been a running battle for many years.
Shirl: Thanks for inviting me - it sounds like fun! I'll post my bird count here, and let you know when it's up.
As a fellow Virginian, I have enjoyed reading your site. I have just started my own blog and hope that you will take a moment or two to read it. I have linked your site to mine and if you like maybe you can reciprocate.
Thank You!
Les
atidewatergardener.blogspot.com
Hi Les - thanks for stopping by! Just read the story of your goofy neighbor - it was an entertaining read, but I'd sure hate to have to deal with it. I'll add your blog to my blogroll, and look forward to reading more about your Tidewater garden.
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