Serendipitous2: Life with Squirrels

Life with Squirrels

When you decide to hang bird feeders you soon find that squirrels become a part of your life. Urban squirrels are curious, devious and opportunistic and you have to be clever to co-exist without warfare.

Being able to jump vast distances and leap tall buildings means that any feed that you do not want to share with them must be at a height and protected by a baffle.

no baffle...

still no baffle...

nope, no baffle...

yippee, no baffle!

What is this thing??

A baffle!!

So this works 99% of the time as long as there are no close branches, or the humans forget and place a chair too close, in which case we advance to 'there might as well not be a baffle'!

'I will figure it out!!!'

If you are going to be precious about your lawn or flower beds it might be best to just admire the birds in your yard and not feed them. Squirrels are gardeners and lawn excavation experts and you may find changes to your yard that are unexpected; bulbs that bloom in unexpected places next spring, or perhaps not at all, being that bulbs are rather tasty things; beddings plants upended because there could be a peanut hidden under there; small divots in the lawn etc..

'What tulips?'

'Who me?'

'There's a spot for a peanut there, or maybe I'll just move that plant over there'

When squirrels become regular visitors to your landscape you can either ignore them or begin to enjoy their company. You can tolerate their presence or invite them to their own feeders in the hope that they will be distracted from the ones for the birds, which also has the side benefit of being highly entertaining.

'I can eat hanging upside down'

'a chair with handy snacks'

'the last one's mine!'

Being as they are all dressed alike, either in grey or black, one has to be observant to tell them apart; whose tail is longer or bushier, whose ear has a tear, who is shy and who is cheeky. So much fun.

Occasionally there is one that is more noticeably different.

Squirrels have a common behaviour in warm weather that is called 'splooting'. It is like someone has let all their air out and they collapse on their bellies with arms and legs splayed. I guess this is something other animals do as well but it sure is comical in squirrels.

Squirrels are very observant. They know the sound of our doors, both house and car, and the sound of our voices, and because all of these things could mean impending peanuts it is clear they are paying attention.

'I see you moving in there'

'Kinda hungry and wet here!'

'did you bring peanuts?'

'I saw you come home'

'I can hear you in there'

I know there is a pecking order but I have not figured it out yet. It is hard to tell who might be older so I can't tell if it's age or perhaps sex. There is certainly language involved by times, like sitting in a higher vantage and squawking, or sometimes growling. They don't seem to fight one another like the chipmunks who launch themselves at each other, roll around, then give chase. Although there can be a lot of chasing with squirrels but that has to do with a different appetite than the one for peanuts.