We have so many gray squirrels here that I find myself taking lots of photographs of them. I like to watch their silly antics and they often make me smile, although I wasn’t smiling a few weeks ago when one of them dug up (and apparently ate) more than a dozen calla lily bulbs from one of my flower beds. I also didn’t smile when one tore down a new thistle feeder the day after I hung it up outside.. and they are constantly trying to get to my bird feeders, so much so that we have started putting vaseline around the poles. It really works (but has to be reapplied every few days), and it definitely makes me smile to watch them trying to climb the poles and sliding back down. It is also very funny to watch them hopping around in the leaves afterwards, trying to get the vaseline off their feet..lol
We decided that maybe if we put out a couple of squirrel feeders near the birdfeeding station at the edge of the woods, then hopefully they would leave the bird feeders alone. We used two old wooden tray-style bird feeders, attached one to a tree and one to a post about 5 feet off the ground, and filled them with corn and a squirrel feed mixture (several times, so far. They eat a lot!). It works most of the time and we’ve had as many as a dozen squirrels around these feeders at one time. Every now and then, one of them will still try to get at the bird feeders, but the vaseline quickly changes his mind… lol
Here are some photos of a squirrel feeding today. Click on any photo to view larger.
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This one watches me curiously as I get a little closer to the feeder. Although they do eat the corn from the cob, they much prefer the peanuts in the squirrel feed mixture.
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He eats a peanut while keeping an eye on me as I get a little closer with the camera. They are getting more used to me being around now and will sometimes let me get within just a few feet of them.
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I got a little too close and startled him. He decides to leave — taking the peanut with him of course. He doesn’t go too far away though, and sits in a nearby tree to finish his peanut. He’s waiting for me to leave so he can go back to the feeder.
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