Squirrelly in the Winter–This Time It’s Personal!

Last summer my husband bought a bird feeder–the kind that attaches to a window with three rubber suction cups so you can watch the birds as they eat the seeds from the tray.    Even after he moved it from the back kitchen window to the living room window in front, no one seemed interested.

As fall turned to winter, a few birds may have come by, but a squirrel found it and fell in love.  He would climb the dogwood in front of the house,  jump onto the small plastic tray and chow down.  He would cling to the screen on the side window while balancing his front paws on the plastic tray.

I discovered him having lunch one afternoon as I was finishing my own lunch.  I went over to the window and tapped at him.  He stopped chewing long enough to give me one of those teen-aged what do you want, looks of disdain.

When I tapped more forcefully, he sprang back from the tray and had all four paws hooked on the screen.  He then let lose a stream of squirrel pee down my window and two dusty paw prints on the glass behind the screen.

When my  husband returned, he threw a bucket of water on the squirrel pee, cleansing it from the window.  He then relocated the squirrel feeder further away  to the middle of the glass.  We hoped that it would make it more difficult for the squirrel to reach the glass.

The squirrel was able to reach the feeder again, but this time he dislodged it.  I can only hope he tumbled to the sidewalk with the feeder, which broke on impact.  (I don’t think the squirrel was impacted at all.)

My husband purchased a second feeder, attached with two suction cups.  The second  feeder was cylindrical in shape, with a red plastic top.

The afternoon after my husband put the new feeder up, the squirrel was back.  He somehow managed to lose the red plastic top.  I searched all around the ground, but it was nowhere to be found.  (Did he put it in his pocket or chew it to bits without leaving bits of red plastic strewn around?)

Today, after the first squirrel finished  chowing down, a second squirrel came for a visit.  This second squirrel lacked the refined technique of the first squirrel and tipped the feeder sideways so that all of the seeds fell to the ground.  At that point, my husband removed the now empty feeder and brought it into the house.  The future of the feeder remains to be seen.

Motto of the story:  Don’t get too greedy and be careful who you invite to share you food.  Protect your sources.