tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56038312011-08-02T23:33:57.736-07:00Squirrel warsWe love birds (well, the cute ones really). We enjoy feeding them and watching them. We encourage them to visit our backyard, but those squirrels! What hogs! We don't wanna hurt the critters, just keep them off of our bird feeders. This blog describes some of our experiences in squirrel proofing our backyard. Not necessarily in chronological order.Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comBlogger241100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-12169725130274477462009-07-13T10:15:00.000-07:002009-07-13T10:18:48.616-07:00Geez, the war never ends. My bird feeders have been pretty safe lately, tho if we get alot of rain, the oil washes off the pole and they can sometimes climb up. What's happening now is the stooopid critters have decided they like my pansies as a snack. So they'll plop their fat bellies onto the deck railing and leaning over munch to their hearts delight. My pansies were in full bloom and now Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-13253820901197777102009-05-27T07:01:00.000-07:002009-05-27T07:13:20.824-07:00We've moved office at work recently. I'm now the proud owner (renter whatever) of a window that opens! Yay!And there is a tree outside filled with birds. OK, so they're kinda boring birds mostly, but hey....they're birds. So I HAD to put a feeder up right?Well I found a great little window feeder that attachs via suction cup at Wally World. Seven bucks. So good investment right? Well... ya Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-67112519852100613302008-06-06T09:39:00.000-07:002008-06-06T09:41:16.729-07:00Baby squirrels are all over right now. They're so fun to watch, chasing each other up and down and round and around the trees. And its now with the baby squirrels where you begin to see those antics with trying to figure out and best the bird feeders again. Better'n TV.Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-9093683396056173352008-01-13T16:38:00.001-08:002008-01-13T16:41:17.766-08:00It's been cold, rainy and windy the last few days. Wind was sooo bad and the ground so soggy that the big bird feeder pole fell over. Squirrels were having a field day when I noticed it. Both feeders had spilled a nice pile of seed and it had turned into a feeding frenzy for the squirrels. Also, I've noticed that they're getting up the other feeder pole pretty easily. It doesn't have a baffleMaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-36216008206335953242007-07-02T17:21:00.000-07:002007-07-02T17:27:05.032-07:00At the cottage, I've got a shorter feeder hook that clasps onto the deck rail. A small bird feeder is suspended there that I put sunflower seeds into. I noticed that the little red squirrels and the chipmunks were raiding it regularly, so I oiled down the pole with some light olive oil to make it nice and slippery. We've noticed it works well for many of our other poles and makes it very hard Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1155047636261444192006-08-08T07:24:00.000-07:002006-08-08T07:33:56.306-07:00Bill had put the bird feeder in the sunroom for the day. All he'd been seeing on the feeder was blue jays and he was feeling stingy I guess. It didn't take long for a chipmunk to get into the house. Apparently, he chewed a hole in the dryer vent and got in that way. Anyway, the little bugger had loads of fun running around the whole house stashing sunflower seeds all over. The first day I Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1154552107977202632006-08-02T13:52:00.000-07:002006-08-02T13:55:07.976-07:00We saw a wolf in the back yard the other evening. Bill and I were sitting on the deck and I looked up and there he was. I whispered "Bill...Bill" not wanting to scare him off as I wanted Bill to see him and to verify that it was what I thought it was. Bill straightens up "What?". By then the wolf saw us and took off. Bill looked up just in time to see the startled wolf run off. Yup, it was Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1154551971554336472006-08-02T13:46:00.000-07:002006-08-02T13:52:51.593-07:00Maybe it's time to change the name of the blog to "Turkey Wars". When we first started getting turkeys in the backyard we thought it was pretty neat. First year all winter we had 3 visiting us. The tom and two hens.Second year we had 13 and those young ones sure were cute!Last year we had 25. However, over the winter you enjoy seeing them coming. We would gleefully count heads as they hobbleMaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1142008558067347142006-03-10T08:24:00.000-08:002006-03-10T08:36:00.523-08:00Things HAD been quiet with the squirrels. Hubby throws out the occasional stale bread and they munch away, leaving the feeders and suet basket be. However, hubby recently made the error of storing the extra suet blocks in the carport. On the floor no less. Like that is saying "here squireley, squirrely".Needless to say, they heard the call. Within days most of the blocks had been ripped to Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1119045359127253282005-06-17T14:53:00.000-07:002005-06-17T14:55:59.133-07:00Squirrels at the cottage are much smaller than those at home. They're really not any bigger than chipmunks. It must be that they have to actually forage for food. Unlike those city squirrels who can just walk out the front door of the nest and raid all those bird feeders.You know where I'm going don't you?That's right. I've put up a bird feeder at the cottage (well, cottage to be, as we're only Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1117679051381035772005-06-01T19:09:00.000-07:002005-06-01T19:24:11.386-07:00Things have been quiet around the feeders, squirrel wise. Well, at least as long as hubby keeps the tube on the pole oiled down anyway. The squirrels still come around, lots of them. And while the seasoned squirrels don't much bother with the pole anymore, everyonce in awhile on of the younger ones will think "what the heck, I'll try whether or not uncle Skippy says not to bother". It's funnyMaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1117678098622624882005-05-25T17:00:00.000-07:002005-06-01T19:08:18.626-07:00Funny, I never thought I'd miss a squirrel. But, there are no blonde squirrels this year. Not a one. No morphs. Nothing. Guess the blonde has been simply bred out of them. Too bad. It was kinda neat having them around. They were so rare, it was a treat. I found myself rooting for the blondies to be top dog around the feeder. Alpha male. Whatever you call the aggressive squirrels. I Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1083849971513713962004-05-06T06:26:00.000-07:002004-05-06T06:29:24.403-07:00I can’t remember where in the timeline this story happened. Somewhere after the film canister event but before the stove pipe poles. It was either spring or fall, I’m not sure which, but there were no leaves on the trees yet. I’ll attempt to describe what happened and if you can visualize it, this will be well worth the read as it is the funniest of all my stories.
Ok, here I go.
Since the 2Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1083847725810447642004-04-01T05:48:00.000-08:002004-05-06T06:29:49.640-07:00The goldfinch feeder is still intact and even though the occasional squirrel comes to check it out, it is for the most part left to the goldfinches.
Empowered by this small victory, I suggest that we try putting in more poles for feeders. We've read that a feeder must be 6 feet off the ground or the squirrels will simply jump up on it. They also say to place it 6 feet from any tree or bush Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1083845594860835082004-03-03T05:13:00.000-08:002004-05-06T05:17:41.966-07:00In the meantime I've decided I want to encourage the goldfinches again. We still have some of that thistle feed they love, so we buy another thistle feeder (a metal one that I've found) and hang it from a shephards crook type of metal pole that I had lying around. It 's really a plant hangar and not tall enough for feeders, but I wonder if it won't work for thistle in a metal feeder. CertainlyMaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1083845008346905762004-02-11T08:10:00.000-08:002004-05-06T05:17:06.763-07:00The new cedar feeder is an attractive feeder. We fill it with seed (not thistle) and hang it from the double hangar. We sit back and enjoy the sparrows, juncos, and even the noisy blackbirds and such. Hubby in the meantime is mulling over what to do when the squirrels find it. And they do. In record time. Soon we have every squirrel within a 2 mile radius partying in our backyard. The Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1071080343214105902004-01-11T04:40:00.000-08:002004-05-06T05:37:29.763-07:00Meanwhile, on the other feeder, the war continues. The victory was short. The squirrels soon figure things out. They expertly dangle from the tips of their toes like experienced trapeze artists and reach down to grab the seeds. However, this time they apparently decided they weren't getting the seed fast enough and quite obviously all their squirrel buddies were complaining that they had to Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1083850542661718482003-12-29T06:27:00.000-08:002004-05-06T06:40:44.716-07:00Hubby's next attempt with the canisters is to place something between them that they will have to jump over. When they jump they'll lose their footing and slip he reasons.
So hubby proceeds to cut the bottoms off of a coffee can we were storing nuts and bolts in and pokes holes in the middle and strings it between some of the 35mm canisters.
It looks pretty wierd and I'm getting tired of Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1071492358919983572003-12-15T06:44:00.000-08:002004-05-06T06:48:19.466-07:00Hubby mulls things over for quite awhile, scowling at the squirrels and running out clapping his hands and yelling at them to scare them off of the feeders.
Somewhere wife read that if you string enough of those empty plastic 35mm film containers along the rope by poking holes in each end, that when the squirrels try to run across the line, the canisters will spin and the squirrels will fall offMaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1071079396605919772003-12-10T10:03:00.000-08:002003-12-10T10:25:52.216-08:00Hubby (and wife) delights at viewing all the birds. We back onto a wild area, a small woods, so our back yard is an "edge". Birds like edges we have found out.
So, thinking if one feeder brings that many, we'll get two feeders and enjoy them all the more.
So off to the store we go and buy a "special" feeder. For thistle. A specialty seed for goldfinches. Thistle is one of the most Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1071492901692633712002-12-15T06:43:00.000-08:002004-05-06T06:47:31.936-07:00It does work for quite awhile, but squirrels you know are the second most intelligent creatures on earth. Or is it the first. I'm beginning to wonder.
It seems that after repeated attempts and fails, those little peanut brains started really mulling over solutions. So getting into a huddle, the squirrels (and we have dozens of fat and generally happy ones in our back yard) realizing that Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1059172226044810432002-11-25T15:30:00.000-08:002004-05-06T05:27:33.560-07:00It all started with one little feeder. A little plastic one with clear sides that we hung from one of the trees.
We sat back to enjoy our birds and it wasn't long before the birds found it. A bluejay, a few sparrows and at the bottom of the feeder, a dove or two walk bobbing their heads and picking at the seed that has fallen to the ground. A new little bird flies to the feeder, we're not Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1058974870138090982002-11-23T08:41:00.000-08:002004-05-06T05:28:22.653-07:00Next, let me introduce the characters.
Human #1 - male, early 50's, 210 pounds. Mr. Frugal. Not cheap, just careful. When he is ready to spend his bucks, he wants value. Which includes determining quality vs investment, etc. Also spending often is precluded by repeated price and model comparisons. Multiple degrees, BA, LBA, MBA, PhD. Currently university professor.
Human #2 - female, Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5603831.post-1058887723591130692002-11-22T08:28:00.000-08:002004-05-06T05:33:59.263-07:00Imagine a backyard facing a wilderness area. Lots of wildlife. Birds, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, even the occasional skunk and coyote. Technically in town, but in reality at the edge. The perfect place to live.
So once we found this idyllic place, we of course decided to put up some bird feeders so that we could enjoy our colourful little friends.
Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214958104021955072noreply@blogger.com