Last year, I equipped my garden with squirrel resistant bird feeders. I now have 6 of these and, after a period in which the local squirrels made repeated attempts to bypass their safeguards, I saw a reduction in squirrel activity in my garden. They mainly confined themselves to feeding off seed dropped to the ground below the feeders by birds - and eating the petals of my
Gazanias. However, last Sunday, I noticed a squirrel repeatedly trying to bust through the defenses of one of the feeders visible from my office window. He was relentless. I'm not exaggerating in estimating that he launched dozens of attacks, one after another, after another, with barely a moment's pause.
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| Up the feeder pole he goes |
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| At the top, he spends a moment contemplating his strategy |
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| He carefully lowers himself down head first onto the largest feeder, sold to me as the "Squirrel Buster Plus" model |
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| He clutches the sides of the feeder with his back paws, trying to avoid pressing down on the ring at the bottom of the feeder, which closes the seed portals |
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| He can't hold on long and he falls head first toward the ground |
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| He quickly recovers and springs back to the pole |
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| He heads back up |
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| Is he resting? Enjoying the scenery? Or is he contemplating a new approach? |
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| He lowers himself down onto the feeder once again |
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| Repeating his prior strategy |
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| But the result is the same and he heads back up the pole yet again. The feeder is so close and yet so unavailable. |
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| At last, he attempts a different technique, reaching over to grasp the feeder as he holds on to the pole with his back legs |
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| As he slides down, the pressure of his paws on the feeder's ring closes the seed portals |
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| His back legs slowly slide down the pole |
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| He swings around facing the bottom the the feeder |
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| He hung there swinging from the bottom of the feeder several times |
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| Before he finally gave up |
The process continued for well over an hour. I snapped photos at intervals. The birds returned each time he landed on the ground, only to fly away as he climbed back up the feeder pole. Eventually I gave up recording his efforts and, somewhat later, he finally moved along. I can't believe he got enough seed to offset the effort he expended on his gymnastics. I also haven't seen him or any other squirrel go up the pole in the days since. But, one day, I expect a new squirrel will move into the garden and the cycle will repeat itself.
For more Wednesday Vignettes,
visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.
All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
