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Squirrels and Birds
Keeping the squirrel from stealing the birds’ food
I love wild birds, so I set up a feeder that I can easily see from my window.
From my window, I can see cardinals, blue jays, robins, titmice, sparrows, blue birds, wrens, doves, and, occasionally, crows and yellow-breasted birds that I suspect are warblers. There are also pigeons, but they are too big for the feeder so they generally forage on the ground beneath.
My favorites are the cardinals, who typically bring their fledglings when they are mature enough to fly. They exhibit the most delightful domestic interactions, with the parents feeding the fledglings and each other.
I also have a resident squirrel. I think he’s cute, but he bullies the birds.
When he decided he wants to eat from the bird feeder, the birds can’t get near it.
I have a problem with this.
I know he’s hungry, but does he have to be such a bully?
The first couple of times I saw him do this, I left him alone. After all, he needs to eat too. But he’s greedy and gobbled up a good portion of the seeds in the feeder.
So I started to go out and scare him off when he showed up.
