Friday, November 15, 2013

The Squirrel Feeder

The one who is the provider of the bird feeder knows his squirrels. 
I jot down his comments as we watch out the back window.

"The squirrels scope the bird feeder out everyday."
"They often all come at once, along with the birds."
"Imagine, all 4 feet on a virtual pinpoint!"
        
"They are amazing acrobats & they're smart." 
"They leap great distances from the branch to the feeder."
 "And they climb the pole like a fireman." 
"And another thing~ They have to work fast."
"Oh, he could stay there until it's completely gone."
"This is, after all, his survival." 
After awhile he tried gently shooing the squirrels away, but they came right back. Finally, he decided that the chicadees, bluejays, cardinals, nuthatches, downey woodpeckers, sparrows & yellow finches were never going to get a turn at this feeder so he went out & took it down, leaving only the other feeder which has a baffle that is (almost) squirrel proof. The squirrels, being gleaners, then gathered on the ground under the other feeder, cleaning up the seeds dropped by the birds.

"It's a collective spirit," he said.

11 comments:

  1. your squirrel sketches were spot on. too cute! it is a constant battle that i sort of gave up on a long time ago. :)

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  2. Yes, you captured squirrel personality just right!

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  3. Spot on is right..
    (I really really do not like squirrels..we have too many..and they do eat all the bird seeds:( )
    Acrobats they are.. in a bad way:)

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  4. We have similar scenes in our backyard, despite attempts to keep the squirrels on the ground. I put the Tellegen book on reserve! Thanks for the recommendation and the lovely letter and autumn painting!

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  5. How I love this !! I love squirrels very much, but there are none in my part of the world :(
    One of my great pleasures when I was in London or Warsaw was to play with squirrels in parks !
    Your drawings are just lovely!And I like to learn from that squirrel observer !

    No, I don't know the book you told me about in comment . I'll see if I can find it here .
    Cavanna's quote says : Better walk on an awaken turtle than on a sleepy roller skate .
    Je te souhaite un bon week-end , ma chère amie !

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  6. Patrząc na Twoje szkice, widzę sprytne i bardzo sympatyczne wiewiórki, które potrafią zrobić cuda, aby zdobyć pożywienie. Uwielbiam te zwierzątka z cudownymi ogonkami. *** Cieszę się, że byłaś u mnie i znowu czytałaś oryginalny polski tekst i jesteś z tego zadowolona. Pozdrawiam bardzo serdecznie.

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    Replies
    1. Zapomniałam napisać, że jest mi bardzo miło, że byłaś w Zakopanem i mogłaś sobie przypomnieć swój pobyt tam :)))

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  7. Rita, I mentioned you and your blog in my post today. Check it out!
    http://latebloomerbuds.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/astute-observations/
    How I enjoy your sketches. At some point, I hope to have more painting attempts in my space.

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  8. Rita -- those little squirrels will drive not only the birds crazy with their obsession with seeds but the folks who put out the feeders. Good idea to take down the pole feeder. I've always found the baffles work quite well. Enjoyed how you caught the squirrel in action -- could see the movement -- barbara

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  9. Love your squirrels! We once had a squirrel end up stuck, head down, inside one of these feeders. It made a terrible moaning noise until I was able to free it.

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  10. I just love these sketches of the squirrel on the feeder.

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Thank you for your comments! They mean a lot to me!