Nuts!
They say you are what you eat and that could never be more true than for squirrels - they are NUTS!!! I know it's fall and all, but the squirrels in our neighborhood are speeding out into traffic like bullets. Mindless of cars, or perhaps with a death wish, they seem to wait for vehicles before they cross. This week alone, I had to squeal on the brakes about half a dozen times for these bushy-tailed freaks as they try to make up their minds on whether to cross the street or not. They boot it to about the half way mark, turn around and head back to the curb, then change directions again and head once more for the tires of my car. Today I saw some road kill that was surely a squirrel...all that was left was the tail.
We have had ongoing battles with these "rats with bushy tails" ever since we have lived in this house. We've had red squirrels hiss at us when we've gone out to the driveway to get into our cars. They ate away at the wood under the eaves on one side of the house trying to nest in the attic. My husband chicken-wired the holes. We once had a squadron of grey and black ones strip all the bark off four cedar trees to make a squirrel condo at the top of our pine. I feared for the health of the cedars, called the Ministry of Natural Resources and was told that we could not kill them and we could not trap and relocate them. "So the squirrels have more authority around our property, than we do?" I queried. "Yes," I was blatantly informed. I was also told that squirrels do not strip cedar trees. I emailed the photos of the squirrels actually doing it and the resulting nest, but my call was never returned.
Hmmmm!!! Isn't it interesting how one black squirrel can turn into a dozen or more black, red and grey squirrels, in just days, when you put a bird feeder up in the backyard or on the clothesline? And even more interesting is how they manage to bypass the biggest baffle available to climb into the pole feeder and devour the feast laid out for the birds? And, have you ever watched them jump up on the clothesline from the railing of the deck, then scamper upside down along the line to the hanging feeder that is beyond the even bigger baffle barrier? This temporarily stops them - they grab the edge of the baffle, begin to chew away at the edges, and suddenly, it swirls around on the clothesline, and the squirrel takes a flying leap through the air and lands back on the ground below the feeder.... Temporary satisfaction for those watching these antics, and then the story begins again, with another determined attempt to gain the prize.....
ReplyDeleteThe final solution for us was to get rid of the bird feeders, which resulted in the squirrels leaving our backyard in search of better morsels.
They are rats with tails! Thanks for your comments, Evelyn!
ReplyDelete