This is one of the little younger fellows that thinks my front porch is his personal nursery, playground and lunch room (open all day!) He is there first thing in the morning and last at night, staying past sundown until there's just enough light for him to make it to his tree and go up to his nest to bed for the night. He likes to scurry across the brick trim under my window and often stops to look in at me.
We set up these new feeders for the Cardinals, Chickadees, Junos, Titmouse and Finches, but the Squirrels have now discovered how to make the treturous leap to the feeders and one or the other usually ends up on the ground by day's end. Here you see one already made it on there and another trying to figure out how to get in on the spoils!He is hanging precariously on a very thin limb from my Pink Dogwood Tree.
We certainly didn't forget them, they have lots of food to eat, and we even got them one of these
corn cob holders, which after a few days of examination they discovered it and then discovered how to get the cob out of the holder! Every day hubby would put one in there and when I got up it would be gone. One day both the cob and the holder were gone! He located it half way down our front yard. Then one day I got to witness the caper. It was a nursing female that would eat what she could until it got light enough to pull up and out of the holder, then she would run down the tree and across the yard to a patch of evergreen trees where I later discovered her nest. She would then actually drag it up the tree. One day I saw her do this with a cob that hadn't that much taken off of it yet, she got it to the base of her tree but had to work on eating quite a bit off till she could lift it up the tree.
This picture here is an attempt to get the cob out but it caught on the wire. They worked on it quite awhile before they could get it off. Yes sometimes there will be one on one side of the holder and one on the other, each taking turns, but beware when they both go for a kernel at the same time!
That was so cute!! Thanks for sharing the story! :)
ReplyDeleteOmgosh how cute!!
ReplyDeleteI would love to have visitors like yours, they are soo sweet. We're ocasionaly feeding some in a park near our home, they come to pick nuts right from your hand.. if they decide you're worth to trust :) Love your story.
ReplyDeleteThanks all!
ReplyDeleteSonja, I have been feeding the squirrels for over 30 years at various places. I am not like most wild birds lovers that try to prevent them from eating the seeds, I feel all should be treated equally. Once, back about 29 years ago I was living in Asbury Park in an apartment and put seed and peanuts on my windowsill. The birds and squirrels would come everyday. One time I went up one block to the park and there were lots of squirrels there. I figured some might be, 'my' squirrels and I started to toss peanuts. One of the squirrels came right up to me and I recognized it as one that I had been feeding (including holding out peanuts through the open window and having them take from my hand. Just as I was holding out the peanut and he/she was moving to get it a car nearby backfired and they over shot the getting the peanut and bit me! I took myself to the ER and spent a few hours there while they looked into the rabitity of squirrels in NJ. They found none for decades and I told them it wasn't being aggressive and how it happened so I didn't get any rabies shots. Thank G-d I heard they were awful back then! But it never deterred me from feeding them. I've had momma squirrels bring their babies to me sitting on the porch and they are so unafraid they would just walk right up to me and sometimes I thought they would jump in my lap if I didn't throw a peanut to them right away! They are such great entertainment and very smart too! Thanks for stopping by and reading my Squirrel Tale! :)
Thank you. They know you're OK :)
ReplyDelete