squirrels – New England's Narrow Road

Trying To Keep The Birds Around, But…

Instead of birds flocking to my yard this Spring, I mostly have squirrels doing acrobatics on my feeders so they can chew up the seed.

Without many plants and flowers in my new yard, I wanted to keep the bug-eating birds here by offering them seed, but the gray squirrels take over and help themselves. They are funny to watch. Before I got this shot, this guy was holding onto the metal pole with one foot and the feeder with the other. By the time I got the camera he had changed position and was happily snarking down the sunflower seeds, upside down.

Oh, and I had a bear walk through the back yard the other evening. I suppose he was looking for the seeds too. All feeders were in, thank goodness and he headed back into the woods as soon as he came.

Feeding Wildlife: Squirrels Getting Fat on Bird Seed

When I first put out bird feeders this year at my new place, none of the birds seemed interested. For days no creature even came near any of the seed and I put out good stuff! I buy “Chickadee’s Choice” which has sunflower seeds and nuts of all kinds, and that is usually gobbled up by many types of birds as well as squirrels, but there were no takers.

I also had one packet of suet (store bought, not my homemade stuff) and nobody seemed to want it either. Now, I love feeding the birds and have done so since I moved up north in 2005, but I’ve never seen birds ignore my offerings!

Just when I was planning on saving a bunch of money this winter because I would not have to buy seed, they began to notice and started eating. The squirrels came first, little piggies that they are. I haven’t seen a red squirrel, but there are plenty of fat (and getting fatter) gray ones.

I was also excited to hear, and see a pair of cardinals right outside the front window – and they have returned almost every day. For the 3 years I lived in my rental house, before moving here, I saw a cardinal only one time and I always thought that was strange. Now I will try to entice them to stay around, if I can convince the squirrels to share.

Birds, Squirrels and the Unanticipated Political Squall (backslashbacklash.com)

The Downside of Having Cats

There have been no cats in my life for so long that I had forgotten the one thing about them that is uncontrollable if they roam the outdoors.

They will catch anything smaller than them that moves.

Richie, in the picture, showed his hunting skills just after he was adopted by us by catching a mouse in my kitchen in the early morning hours. And even though he and Fontana came to live with us in the middle of winter, Richie sat at the slider each morning begging to be let free.

Once we felt that he had become accustomed to this area, we started letting him out and he immediately began catching mice and voles. We’d always know when he had something because he would bring it up to the door and meow (with the creature dangling in his jaws) and beg to come in.

Everyone who has outdoor cats know that they do this. They love to show off their prize.

We have numerous large gray squirrels and also many smaller red squirrels in my area and Richie would crouch on the porch watching them steal the birdseed. Occasionally he would make a try for one, but the snow was too deep for him to get close.

The red squirrels are quick and I told my son that he (the cat) would never be able to catch one of those.

This picture proves me wrong and I don’t know how he did it, but he had to show me.

The chipmonks are coming out of hibernation now and he has also caught a few of those. I always feel badly when he kills something, but it’s his instinct and I won’t keep him indoors because he loves being outside.