Squirrelly in the Spring: Showing Our Mettle

After the Squirrels destroyed 3 plastic feeders in a row, we decided to go full court metal.

 

 

 

First we hung the new metal bird feeder out on the Beech tree where the plastic one had hung.  It barely slowed  Hoover, the squirrel, down.  He and his buddies managed to eat the entire cone down in 3 days.  Bob filled it up again and Hover finished it again.  It was as simple as hanging upside down from the branch and pulling the feeder  toward him.

Bob moved it closer to the house.  He nailed it to the back porch.  Hoover had a much harder time getting to it.  We did not discover how he managed to do this, but during one attempt, he rode the feeder to the ground like Slim Pickens riding the rocket to the ground in Dr. Strangelove. CRASH!  Hoover had already run off but the feeder lay on the ground, surrounded by lose seed.

Bob secured the feeder with a stronger nail. Hoover is not impressed.  He jumps onto the screen at the kitchen window.  (I’m not sure if this is squirrel terrorism or he is checking to see if we are inside.)  He scent marks the railing of the porch by leaving regular puddles of squirrel urine.

Finally I saw Hoover leap vertically from the railing and land upside down on the bottom of the feeder, where a bird would perch.  He coils his body around the lip and inserts his  nose through the metal bars in the feeder, nibbling off bits of the seed cone.  He can’t hang on to completely devour the cone in one visit like he could from the tree.

We measured the distance and it s 38 inches from the railing to the bottom of the feeder–a good vertical high jump for an animal that is 9-11 inches long (not including the tail).

As he has become more familiar with the new feeder, he has returned to the more upside down feeding position.

As he has become more familiar with the new feeder, he has returned to the more upside down feeding position.

His friend (maybe girl friend) Lucy is not as robust as Hoover and seems unable to jump up to the feeder.  She often sits on the railing, staring up at the feeder as if trying to figure out a way she can reach it.  So far she has had to make do with the seeds that fall to the porch from Hoover’s hoovering.

                       Lucy on the porch railing trying to figure how to get up to the feeder.

 

 

 

Sometimes birds, such as this cardinal, get a chance to use the feeder too.  They appreciated it during our recent snow storm.