The Tangled Trail

Squirrels: Waiting

These two are such a nuisance.  Now they’ve taken to sitting on the fence, one on each wall, watching me, waiting patiently for me to leave.  I’m sure the second I’m away from the window, they’ll attack the bird feeder.

Looks as if I may have to try one or two of these “Tips for Outwitting Squirrels” from the National Wildlife Federation… www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/National-Wildlife/Birds/Archives/2010/Squirrels.

I’m hoping to capture an image of one of these guys during an actual attack on the feeder.  It’ll be a squirrel-flying-through-the-air shot.  Wish me luck!  Unfortunately, they know when I’m watching them with my camera, and this is what they look like.

Squirrels 004

Squirrels 005

Photos taken June 3rd, 2013

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Responses

  1. theamateurcamera Avatar
    theamateurcamera

    Great photos! I actually really like squirrels… they’re cute and make me laugh! Also, I have to sympathise with them a little as my Mutley dog always chases them! Perhaps you should get a dog! 😀

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    1. Linda, A Nature Mom Avatar
      Linda, A Nature Mom

      Oh, I really like the squirrels, too! Especially their antics. Just not when they’re stealing the food from the bird feeder. They’re perfectly welcome to eat all the seed from the ground that the birds have spilled! Which is plentiful. 🙂

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  2. Squirrel: On the Screen Door | Nature Mom Avatar
    Squirrel: On the Screen Door | Nature Mom

    […] Squirrels: Waiting (anaturemom.com) […]

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  3. elPadawan Avatar
    elPadawan

    In Europe, they seldom are a nuisance. More often than not they’re scared little wild things, and spotting one will not be so frequent as it can be in North America… People probably thought I was crazy when I came to Toronto and *liked* seeing squirrels everywhere… Much better than pigeons in Paris if you ask me… 😀

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  4. Alex Jones Avatar
    Alex Jones

    Squirrels can be cunning opportunist creatures 🙂

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    1. Linda, A Nature Mom Avatar
      Linda, A Nature Mom

      As I sit at my computer right now, in the past five minutes, the squirrels (yes, the very two in these photos), have made six attacks on the feeder. The very definition of persistent!

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      1. Alex Jones Avatar
        Alex Jones

        Ha ha 🙂

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  5. bluebrightly Avatar
    bluebrightly

    Don’ they just look dangerously smart?! Good luck!

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    1. Linda, A Nature Mom Avatar
      Linda, A Nature Mom

      They don’t just look it, they are super smart. And I need all the luck I can get with these guys. Thanks!

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  6. mmtread Avatar
    mmtread

    There are very few squirrels here in Budapest, so it’s a bit funny that we get really excited when we see one. It’s like getting all breathless about seeing a pigeon. I’d say in ten years in Hungary we’ve seen maybe a half-dozen squirrels. Rarity, no matter what the object, breeds enthusiasm.

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    1. Linda, A Nature Mom Avatar
      Linda, A Nature Mom

      I can imagine! But my son still gets excited every time he sees a squirrel (or a deer), which we see daily! I do laugh, though, when I’m someplace like Yosemite, where there’s gorgeous scenery, well, everywhere, and the foreigners are all focusing their cameras on the squirrels. I do understand, though. They’re darn cute!

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  7. avalonseedlings Avatar
    avalonseedlings

    What a bunch of wily posers!! Love it! Good luck with the shot.

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    1. Linda, A Nature Mom Avatar
      Linda, A Nature Mom

      Just saving up their energy for their next assault on the bird feeder. 🙂 Thanks!

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  8. montucky Avatar
    montucky

    You always have to forgive them though because they are so darned cute!

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    1. Linda, A Nature Mom Avatar
      Linda, A Nature Mom

      So true. 🙂

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  9. gardeninacity Avatar
    gardeninacity

    With placement and squirrel baffles we’ve managed to keep the squirrels at bay. However, it seems that after a few months they always figure out a way to get on to a feeder. The last two times it involved climbing across a telephone wire, then dropping to the platform feeder (we called this one Commando Squirrel), and performing an amazing leap from the porch railing – maybe 7 or 8 feet. Both resulted in my moving the bird feeder poll. I’m waiting to see what their next move is.

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    1. Linda, A Nature Mom Avatar
      Linda, A Nature Mom

      Yep, these ones can leap 7 feet or so. I moved the feeder, but now the squirrels (or at least one of them) climb our screen door and leaps from there. I can’t win. Our yard is simply too small!

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  10. Deb Platt Avatar
    Deb Platt

    I had reached the point where I was going to give up on having bird feeders because squirrels were both eating the seed and destroying the feeders. I ended up putting the feeders on a pole in the middle of my yard and using a raccoon baffle to prevent squirrels from climbing up the pole (photo of a baffled squirrel here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debplatt/7752907006/). It absolutely works. The downside is that since the feeder is out in the open, the birds feel less secure and it probably is cutting down on the number of visitors that my feeders are getting. The birds have to worry about raptors swooping in and getting them, hence their caution. I would like to give my visiting birds more cover by putting the feeder pole closer to a tree, but if I did squirrels would just leap from the tree to the pole. However, in its current configuration I still get enough birds for it to be interesting to me, and I haven’t given up on feeding them.

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    1. Linda, A Nature Mom Avatar
      Linda, A Nature Mom

      Wish I had that kind of room to work with! I’ve gotta work with the space in our little yard. We have a baffle that prevents them from climbing up the pole – that’s been totally effective. It’s their jumping abilities that I can’t seem to get around, due to the small yard. We used to have a problem with raccoons getting into our feeder a year ago, but I haven’t seen them in ages. Knock on wood!!

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  11. nicb1rd Avatar
    nicb1rd

    Oh my gosh, they almost look cat-like. Just lying in wait, stalking the birdies.Nice shots though!

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    1. Linda, A Nature Mom Avatar
      Linda, A Nature Mom

      Oh, they do!

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  12. iamlenise Avatar
    iamlenise

    Cute! LOL!

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    1. Linda, A Nature Mom Avatar
      Linda, A Nature Mom

      They really are cute, darn them. 🙂

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  13. notimeforironing Avatar
    notimeforironing

    They really are a pain. Looking forward to that flying shot though 🙂

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    1. Linda, A Nature Mom Avatar
      Linda, A Nature Mom

      I’ll work on it!

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