Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Uh Oh, A New Visitor

As you can see, I have a new visitor at the feeder. The strange distortions in front of the squirrel on the picture are nose prints from my dog. She was going crazy trying to get at that squirrel. It took her awhile, but she's now okay with the birds, but my dog hates that squirrel.

These are from some of my first sightings of this squirrel, but it has now been coming for a few weeks. As I expected, this little thief is driving me crazy. It's almost relentless in its quest for the food in my bird feeder. It has been so bad that for awhile I thought trying to feed the birds was over. This squirrel has eaten two feeders full of seed and stolen three suet cakes.

Even though I knew I was in a losing battle, I began to develop a plan. The squirrel gets up earlier than I do, so I can't always catch it out there, but the birds don't come to the feeder at night. My solution was to bring the feeder inside at night and take it back out in the morning. When the squirrel comes to the feeder, which is almost immediately, I let the dog out. The squirrel always gets away, but sometimes doesn't come back for the rest of the day.

Honestly I wouldn't mind if the squirrel ate some of the food, but it eats so much that I can't keep enough out there for it. I mostly keep it away, but it still gets its share. And of course the birds don't come around when the squirrel is there. The good thing is that they're still coming after the dog runs the squirrel off.

With the warm weather I'm guessing that I won't get many new birds at the feeder, so I'm going to have to finally get up and get back to my normal adventures. The bird feeder is fun because I like posting about animals, but soon I'll have to get back to hiking through the nature parks again.

I don't see as many animals at the parks here in Iowa as I did in Michigan. The animals have many more places to hide here than they did there. I miss the animals. Maybe I'll have to learn about some of the plants here too to make up for not as many animal sightings. Plants are a difficult subject for me, but I've learned in the past. I guess I'll find out what happens. It should be fun. I'll talk to you later.

12 comments:

  1. They're cute though. I love the nose prints on the window. I rarely see animals when I'm walking in the forest. They're smart enough to avoid people.

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  2. They can eat you out of house and home. I see the suet doesn't have a top, perhaps some wire.I just buy more and feed them corn also.

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  3. squirrells, the bane of our existence!!!! but they are so cute!!!!!

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  4. i'm surprised you made it that long without the varmints finding your feeder! they are cute and sneaky and eat a TON. :)

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  5. Everyone Who feeds birds fights a battle with these sneaky and smart animals. And the squirrels usually win. One friend found a source for peanuts not too expensive and she had dedicated a feeder to them, which the squirrels and jays like better, leaving the seed for the little guys.

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  6. Those squirrels are little piggies!

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  7. Squirrels are fun to watch but they can make pigs of themselves at the bird feeders. We used to have one at our big feeder all the time. He found a way to climb inside it and he could sit there and chow down.

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  8. Squirrels find bird feeders irresistible.

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  9. Squirrels find bird feeders irresistible.

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  10. Your feeders sure are a source of fun for you Ratty!

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  11. We have many squirrels trying to raid the feeders at work but the pheasants chase them off!!

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  12. That squirrel has spread the word through Iowa that you are a big meanie and to run away when they see you--that is why you don't see any animals there.

    ;)

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