DEBORAH CROMBIE: I love my garden, especially all the pots on the deck and patio. For years, I complained about the squirrels. As we have a huge old native pecan tree, we might as well have a giant sign flashing SQUIRREL BUFFET!
We learned to use safflower seed in our birdfeeder rather than sunflower or mixed birdseed, because squirrels won't eat safflower. I gave up planting bulbs in the beds because the squirrels just dug them up. I put powdered garlic and cayenne pepper and everything else anyone recommended in my pots, to no avail, and cursed the squirrels daily.
Then my husband made friends with a squirrel. He originally bought a bag of in-shell peanuts in an attempt (unsuccessful so far) to attract the neighborhood flock of crows. Then he started talking to the squirrels when he was doing outside chores, and if one came closer, he'd toss it a peanut.
After months of enticing, one squirrel started to come when he called, and eventually, take peanuts right out of his hand. He named her Tikka.
I can feed Tikka now, too, although the first time I felt her little claws on my finger I jumped and dropped the peanut! Most mornings she'll find me when I'm watering, appearing suddenly behind me. When she disappears for a while we worry about her. This summer we think she had kits (that's what squirrel babies are called, and their nests are called dreys) and she was definitely eating for more than one!
We've learned a lot about squirrels the last year or so since Tikka has been visiting us regularly. My biology/animal behavior nerd is out in full force! I would love to be able to put a tracker on her and discover her nest!
She is a fox squirrel, which is bigger and better adapted to urban neighborhoods than the gray squirrel. They normally have two litters a year, one in winter/early spring and one in midsummer, and the average litter is two or three kits.
Here's Tikka eating a handful of sunflower seeds on our deck railing. You have to admit, she's pretty cute.
As for my pots, mostly I just sigh.
Dear REDs and readers, do you have any wild friends?
No friends with the wildlife. Of course, the only wildlife that I'm aware of has been nocturnal visits from a skunk that occasionally walks through the carport.
ReplyDeleteYou don't want to be friends with a skunk!
DeleteHow adorable 🥰 Squirrels are cute. I’ve wondered if it’s safe to feed them.
ReplyDeleteLiving in the San Francisco Bay Area, I remember seeing deer 🦌 roam in the hills. Regarding wild animals, I saw them at the zoo. I’ve Seen lizards, newts and snakes at the science museum. As a child, we visited the animal farm where they had wild animals. I’m trying to recall if it was pigs or goats. I remember seeing ducks.
Yes, you seem to have lot of deer there, Diana. I suspect there aren't enough natural predators, or hunters, and an overpopulatios of deer can be quite destructive to the environment.
DeleteNot recently, though. I was thinking about my entire lifetime. During the drought years in California, I think the deer population went down due to effects from the droughts?
DeleteOur last house came with a pet squirrel, but our dog chased it off. For a while there was a lizard in the garage by my car. I would talk to it in the mornings.
ReplyDeleteLisa, have you ever watched Death in Paradise? There's a resident lizard in the beach house where the Inspectors all live, named Harry.
DeleteKaren, I have watched Death in Paradise and that lizard is so cute! I'd forgotten his name was Harry.
DeleteThat is funny, I called mine Larry!
DeleteWe have little green anoles everywhere here and they are such fun to watch.
DeleteTikka is so cute . . . .
ReplyDeleteThe deer wander through without eating the flowers, so I guess that's a sort of "friendship" . . . .
HA HA! Yes, our area has many squirrels, but they're not friends.
ReplyDeleteMy main balcony garden nemesis is a black squirrel named SATAN.
And last year, SATAN became a daddy and now has a brood of kids who scamper all over our street.
Those of you on FB see me post videos of their antics, including several this week!
We also have "cute" bunnies, not-so-cute raccoons, groundhogs and deer in the heart of Ottawa's historic downtown.
We have many, many crows that peck and claw open our garbage sacks and spread our trash around the street. We have pine martens that visit our neighborhood at night and, for some weird reason, like to crawl under parked cars and chew out cables and hoses. And, coming home late one evening, I saw a fox standing in the middle of our little street, who, at that moment, didn't seem to be destroying anything!
ReplyDeleteWe aren't allowed to put out garbage in bags here, so don't have that problem with the crows, thank goodness. That's fascinating--and I'm sure very annoying--about the pine martens. Here, rats will get in car engines and chew the wiring if cars are left outside.
DeleteSadly, here in our apartment in Braga, we have no garden, and even our glassed-in balcony becomes a hothouse in summer, so our plants are limited to pots inside, by windows. Oddly, we haven't seen a single squirrel here, although plenty of pigeons and seagulls.
ReplyDeleteIn Sacramento, we had plenty of squirrels, and they loved to tease our dog, running across the top of the backyard fence and shaking their tails at him. We also had possums and raccoons and occasionally a skunk. What we loved, though, were the birds: doves, jays, sparrows, tits, finches, hummingbirds. We do miss all of that.
No wildlife pets, though. Just our very tame and lovable mutt.
The internet says you have Eurasian red squirrels in Braga and they are quite common in urban neighborhood and parks, so keep an eye out!
DeleteWe have lots of squirrels frolicking around, but I'm not friends with any of them. The wildlife I love to hate is the cursed woodchuck that plagues my vegetable garden.
ReplyDeleteI was friendly with the bluebird couple that nested in my box for the first time earlier in the summer. Every morning I filled their blue feeder with dried mealworms and make a kissing sound, then I backed away and watched them eat. They raised a couple of fledglings but then left for parts unknown. I hope they come back next spring!
A cardinal often perches on the cable outside my second-floor office window, and other birds come and go in the big ancient swamp oak only yards from my window.
I wish we had bluebirds here! We seem to be right in between the ranges for Eastern Bluebird and the Western Bluebird, so very seldom see either. We'd be more like to see the Eastern variety, as we're closer to east Texas than to west.
DeleteWhen I was a teen in Connecticut in the 1970s, I had state and federal licenses to raise or otherwise care for wildlife. Among many other animals and birds, I raised several batches of grey and red squirrels. I will warn you that those needle claws that allow them to run up trees and the teeth that can crack nuts with ease can be real liabilities if the squirrel becomes too tame. An adolescent squirrel once playfully bit and scratched me, in a flash leaving my whole arm bloody. These days the testing for licensure is much more rigorous and they impress on you the importance of not taming wildlife, for the safety of the wild animal as well as oneself. This was gradually borne in on me as birds I raised flew down to light on the shoulders of my mother's therapy clients coming up the walk and when a raccoon I reared from a kit was, as an adult, up on the back door railing trying to work the storm door handle to come back into the house. Be careful! (Selden)
ReplyDeleteExcellent points, Selden! Steve also had the permits, and it's always good to remember that wild animals are NOT pets. He was gored in the thigh by someone's "pet" buck once, when the animal was in its first "rut" or mating season, and decided Steve was a rival for the woman's affection. If he had not been very strong it could have gone badly for him.
DeleteI am actually quite terrified of racoons. In our last house, we had one hold us hostage for several days until wildlife control was able to trap it in our garage and take it off to be destroyed.
DeleteYou should entitle this blog The Taming of the Squirrel. Rick is a patient man!
ReplyDeleteWhen I met Steve they had a pair of mated grey foxes, Tom and Jenny, who had been rescues. They had a litter of kits every spring, and none of them ever avoided getting fatal distemper. After I got attached to them, of course. He also had a flying squirrel, Frisky, who would crawl around on his shoulders, and curl into a breast pocket to sleep.
It's like a Disney cartoon around here.
In the last three years we have had the most curious bunch of skunks living under the shed next door. None of them have normal coloration. Either they are luxuriantly white on top, or nearly totally black--some have just a white tail tip and a triangle of white on the forehead, or the one currently visiting is like a washed out version of a normal skunk, with a pitiful scraggly greying tail. They barely notice us, mostly. Our neighbor's dog cannot leave them alone; she's been sprayed 13 times, mostly by the all black ones.
Karen, if you have ever had to wash a skunk sprayed dog, well, let's just say it is dreadful. Over 40 years we had 4 German Shepherds, all with luxuriant coats. Three out of the 4 were sprayed at least once. I was young and strong back in those days. I don't know how I could get a 110 pound dog to get in the tub and submit to a tomato juice scrubbing now! Last thought, a rainy day, a damp dog, and the faint "odeur de skunk" returns for the rest of his life.
DeleteLettie is also a German Shepherd, and Cheryl, her owner, has gotten really good at deskunking her. Hydrogen peroxide was apparently key.
DeleteCheryl walks her on our mile-long dark road after 10PM. Lettie catches wind of the all-black skunk too fast!
Maybe she should keep Lettie on a short leash! We've never had to deskunk a dog, thank goodness. In our last house, in an area that had much more recently been rural, dozens of skunks hunted bugs under the streetlights at night. Our cocker spaniel would have been after them like a shot, but we never let him out off-leash at night. I did let him run on the golf course when it was closed--cockers are gun dogs and they need a LOT of excercise--and one day he spotted a box turtle that he was determined to get the best of. He did not:-)
DeleteCheryl's yard abuts a big pioneer cemetery which is part of their nightly ramble, and I think that is probably where Lettie gets sprayed. She's such a doofus, but very sweet, lucky for her.
DeleteWe have squirrels, although they mostly keep to the woodlands behind our house. We've had an abundance of bunnies this year, and a few groundhogs. One critter we've seen more frequently than usual is a big snapping turtle. I've given him (her?) the not-so-original name of Snappy.
ReplyDeleteWe usually have a couple of families of deer around, but they tend to disappear in the summer and reappear when the foraging gets rough in the winter.
I am glad we don't have groundhogs to dig up the garden, although we do have armadillos. They seem most likely to dig up the yard in the spring. We have possums, too, which used to drive one of our former dogs crazy!
DeleteA few days ago, as I was walking on the trail at the golf course, a squirrel crossed the path. It seemed to have something really big in its mouth. I got closer and realized that it (she?!) was carrying a baby squirrel. I could see the tiny tail. The baby wasn't moving, so I hope all was okay and she was just transporting it to a safer place. I had never seen that before!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite wild neighbor these days is the young coyote that my friends have named Billy the Kid. I see Billy a couple of times a week because he hangs out in the part of the golf course where I walk. He is often resting under the row of trees that separate the driving range from the rest of the course. Yesterday he was there, despite a fellow with a big dog who was walking nearby picking up golf balls. I quietly slipped closer and closer until I was able to stand behind the big tree he was under and get a few pictures. The guy with the dog approached, as did a group of golfers from the other side and Billy got up and trotted away. He is skinny, all legs and ears, a beautiful creature, continuing to grow into his full adult size.
Squirrels are born naked, blind, and completely helpless, and don't even open their eyes for eight weeks! I was suprised to learn that they are so dependent for so long, and aren't weaned until about 12 weeks. Even then they're still dependents on the mothers. (Male squirrels are polygamous and don't participate in raising young.)
DeletePeople complain all the time about the coyotes in our neighborhood, but we are daily taking away their territory. They are beautiful, but you shouldn't feed them and you shouldn't leave your small dogs out at night!
No wild friends.
ReplyDeleteWe've had more deer than usual, which means we've had more fawns than usual nestled in tall grass or under a bush while mom grazes nearby. One day, a doe frantically approached us on our morning walk with our standard poodles, very agitated, enticing us (and our clueless dogs) forward. We finally realized she was distracting us from her fawn and picked up the pace.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure she didn't see your gorgeous poodles are friendly!
Delete"as" friendly!
DeleteTikka is pretty cute, Debs! The squirrels were my nemeses until we put up a feeder with weight sensitive perches and a metal baffle underneath. Now the squirrels can only have the seed that has dropped to the ground and they are just amusing. I do talk to the blasted bunnies, even as I scold them and chase them away from my garden beds. My favourite birds are the cardinals and I chat with them all the time.
ReplyDeleteThe cardinals were one of things I missed most when we lived in England, Suzette! I love their song, and when I hear them begin to sing in late December here, I know the year is turning.
DeleteAnd that’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it?
DeleteI am definitely not friends with any of my gray squirrels or red squirrels or chipmunks! not am I friendly towards the blue jay who has managed to get into the birdfeeder, even though he is too heavy. Not sure just what he figured out. I remember years ago reading that if you stood quietly and had some sunflower seeds on your hand a chickadee would come and eat. So I tried that a couple times, but I wasn't good about standing quietly for any length of time. Then I realized that I did not want any bird landing on my hands, so that was the end of that experiment.
ReplyDeleteMy attitude now is one of live and let live, especially after figuring out how to keep the critters from digging into my potted citrus plants that are still outside.
I consider a local deer to be sort of a pet. After all, I have sacrificed my garden to her. Last night, just before dark, was the first I had seen her fawn. I had been a little worried because until then I had only seen her on her own.
When Rick was a teenager he made friends with a titmouse that would fly in through his open bedroom window. And I do like the blue jays. I put out a handful of peanuts for them on the deck rail in the morning, and they usually get them before the squirrels.
DeleteWe had no problem attracting crows in our old neighborhood. They were everywhere especially on garbage day. They are loud and nasty, but if you want them in your yard go for it. I will stick to my hummingbirds.
ReplyDeleteLots of coyote sightings in my new community and we are discouraged from doing anything to befriend them. People with small dogs beware.
No, you shouldn't befriend the coyotes or the bobcats, or feed them. And they are very dangerous to small dogs. Cats can defend themselves a bit better, but I wouldn't let my tiny dog go out unsupervised at night!
DeleteI live in the suburbs close to Hartford near a very busy intersection with shopping centers on all corners. One of the roads is a four-lane highway that eventually goes through western Connecticut to New York.
ReplyDeleteWe have not made friends with any of the wildlife. Besides the squirrels and bunnies, the chipmunks and sparrows, and dozens of species of birds, we have seen foxes, coyotes, bobcats, hawks and black bears. We plant native plants but we dare not put up bird feeders anymore because of the bears. Tikka is cute. I try not to get attached to any one critter. The predators are pretty efficient at keeping their population in check.
We have coyotes and bobcats in our urban neighborhood, too, Judy, and I imagine there are foxes although I've never see one. I hope Tikka manages to stay our of their way!
DeleteJani Gunsaulus - in Mt Pleasant, SC where we live 15 mins from ChS - our squirrels r small, fast scrambling in trees- bothering no one , one their own journey.
ReplyDeleteI think you will have Eastern gray squirrels--your state mammal! From what we've been learning, they are less tame and less sociable than the fox squirrel.
DeleteI have always loved squirrels, so much so that as a kid I was always trying to make a squirrel trap all summer long in order to make the captured squirrel a pet. All I ever got was chatter. My brother was in love with toads – same thing, different trap.
ReplyDeleteWe have a sunflower seed feeder on the deck that is filled from late October to May – late October so we don’t just feed blue jays, and May because there is worry of a virus in birds that is spred by the feeders, in spite of regular cleaning. I never worry about the birds in the summer, as there is lots of natural food anyway. Meanwhile the squirrel enjoys the feeder when it is up, and much to the husband’s disgust and the dog’s joy, I also spred a bit of the seeds from the scoop just onto the deck – easy pickings. It is known as cat tv as they sit in front of the glass and cackle. There does arise the question as to whether the squirrel today is the same squirrel as yesterday, since there is often a squirrel in the cat’s mouth, the squirrel being sans head (sorry to some). There are never 2 squirrels at once. Last year we were disgusted when a squirrel went into the robin’s nest where the nestlings were just ready to fledge – and killed them all! Something that we didn’t know was that this is quite normal for the squirrel’s behaviour.
As for other wildlife – we have raised 3 baby raccoons at various times – the kids love them forever and still tell their kids tales of childhood with sleeping with a raccoon at night – just like a kitten. Saved a crow over the winter (he was in the living room – flying free (ask Jack why he thought it was a good idea – pastel pink does not look good with splots of crow poop. I can guarantee it will never become a decorating trend). Looked after a starling in the house for 5 years. He had a displaced shoulder and sang along with the opera and the dryer. Raised monarch butterflies – 250 last year, only 1 this year (very sad – where are they?) Jack had several skunks – ask him about the story of the house being painted by a stranger and a skunk under the ladder – hilarious! He feed wild ducks for a few years in the morning when he fed our chickens – they were always there on time, no matter the weather.
The only thing I draw a line for is snakes – not now, not ever. The only get snake is a dead snake (do you think I have an opinion on them?).
That should read good snake is a dead snake. I hate ai's interference! I can't read my own mind so how does it think it can be me?
DeleteI am fascinated by crows, Margo, but think I would draw the line at one loose in the house. We have a bird rehab center here so would at least have another option.
DeleteI am very distressed to hear about your monarchs! I have been noticing far few butterflies in our garden this summer, and our garden is very butterfly friendly. Is anyone else seeing the same thing?
And I have to disagree with you on the snakes, Margo. We are always happy to see the non-venemous snakes. We had a six-foot rat snake in the tree outside our kitchen window one day and were hoping it would stay around and hunt some of the rats!
A six-foot snake in your tree and you still live there?! I dimly recall large black snakes in trees where we lived in Maryland, but when the man next door attempted to molest me sexually, my stepfather threatened to call the police and we moved shortly after. No more snakes of any kind!
DeleteHow awful, Susan!
DeleteYes, definitely fewer butterflies--and we have milkweed!
DeleteWe have milkweed too, and I saw a few Monarchs earlier, but haven't spotted any of their caterpillars.
DeleteI wish I knew about the safflower seeds a month ago! My husband put a bag of sunflower seeds on our sunporch and a squirrel chewed through a window screen overnight. We cleaned everything up and got a new screen. The squirrel then chewed through the sliding door screen and another window screen just to make sure we hadn't missed a seed:/ This morning I chased a mom and two baby deer out of my front planting bed. City life is sounding more attractive the older I get!
ReplyDeleteWe've used safflower seed only in our feeders for years. I'm surprised more people don't know about it since squirrels are such a nuisance at feeders. Rick decided to fill our feeder with sunflower seeds recently--our supposedly squirrel proof feeder--and the while the birds loved it, they didn't get much. The squirrels emptied it in a day.
DeleteWith free-roaming stray cats, the squirrel population is in check, thank heavens! We had a red squirrel get into the house for a couple of days, much to the inside cats' frustration--it hid under the radiator where they couldn't get it. When it finally made a break for freedom, I was standing on a chair to get out of the way--laughing. Jimmy the orange cat was coming around the corner so fast he was like a motorcycle practically lying on its side as it rounded a curve. The squirrel made it out safely, never to be seen again. I don't try to befriend any of the wildlife, just admire them from a distance. I no longer feed the birds because of stray cats, but I miss seeing them at the feeders.
ReplyDeleteToo funny, Flora! Poor little squirrel. He must have been terrified. We are certainly not inviting Tikka into the house, and our dog and outside cat seem to have learned that Tikka is a friend and don't try to chase her. We do watch over them and make sure she has an easy escape route, just in case.
DeleteHenry the Night Heron who performs life guard duty at my condo’s swimming pool. Such a distinguished bird. Community lore says he’s been coming for about 30 years…as with Hank’s Flow and Eddy,* it is comforting to believe it is the same Henry. Oh, yes, on rare occasions he brings Henrietta along. Elisabeth *apologies if I misspelled their names, Hank.
ReplyDeleteOh, I love Henry the Night Heron! They are such gorgeous, elegant birds. Although we had a Great Blue Heron land on our fence one day and survey our koi pond, so we were glad he didn't hang around.
DeleteAww....love Henry the night heron! xxx
DeleteWe have two bunnies, a mama and her baby, living on our backyard hill. They were eating the dry grass on the hill, but only came down to the lawn after dark because of our dog. Unfortunately, we had to put the dog down last weekend and I’ve noticed they’re coming closer to the house. We have lizards, too, but we’re not trying to domesticate the bunnies or lizards. We just enjoy watching them through the glass door. — Pat S
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry about your dog, Pat.
DeleteSo sorry about your dog, Pat. That's just the hardest thing. Big hugs. xx
DeletePAT S: So sorry about your dog. Hugs.
DeleteThank you, Edith, Debs and Grace. He was the best dog. — Pat
DeleteWildlife? As my mother once said, “ It’s like living in a bloody Zoo “. We live on an open hillside with daily deer, frequent foxes, jackrabbits, occasional skunks and raccoons and coyotes. We also have cheeky squirrels, one of whom visits our balcony all the time, not to mention gophers and a good variety of birds!
ReplyDeleteThey must be delightful to watch, Rhys!
DeleteThe robin breeding season is over, because we now have a flock of robins in our back yard every day. Every morning they have a party in our patio fountain. I can see them from my desk and it's so much fun to watch them.
DeleteMy neighbor has planted a gorgeous and bounteously fruiting peach tree and the squirrels practically dance a conga line from my yard, across the street to that tree, help themselves to peaches, carry one back to my yard where they gnaw away the flesh, spewing it sideways, breaking open the pit and eating the SEED INSIDE THE PIT. Really not cute. And don't get me started on the rabbits who have decimated my wonderful arrays of hostas.
ReplyDeleteDebs, don't plant a peach tree.
DeleteSorry, squirrels dancing a conga line to get at the peaches made me laugh out loud.
DeleteOdd, I thought peach seeds were poisonous?
Hosta are just salad for bunnies. Truly. They BRAZENLY eat it. Taunting me.
DeleteI hesitate to mention this, but our Amesbury squirrels ignore our hosta and almost everything else. Maybe because the giant antique swamp oak has so many acorny bits for them.
DeleteGrace, the pits have a cyanide compound that is poisonous. I wonder if the squirrels are eating the outside part.
DeleteThanks, yes it was the cyanide part of the pod that I heard about.
DeleteJust weird that squirrels are clever enough to eat the non-poisonous seed!
I can see squirrels occasionally darting into the roofline gaps in my ancient potting shed. I'm fine with that; I figure they'll go for the easy shelter instead of trying to gnaw their way into my much-more fortified attic!
ReplyDeleteA fox family moved into our neighborhood during Covid, and I've had the pleasure of seeing the vixen with her kits tumbling all around her several times over the years. Their appearance led to a decrease in the ever growing numbers of chipmunks popping in and out of my wood pile, so... the beauty of nature's plan, right?
I've also had run in with woodchucks (so destructive, but so gosh darn cute,) a porcupine who saw nothing wrong in searching for food three feet from my back door, and, on one memorable occasion, an opossum on my cellar landing. I flung open the door thinking to show my interested cat a mouse and instead was face to face with the possum! I'm still not sure which of us was more startled. The cat, presented with an eight pound "mouse," wisely disappeared into another room and didn't emerge for several hours.
We had a possum in our driveway! Jonathan said--that possum is dead! It truly looked like it. And I had to say--how do you know? We left it. Later, it was gone.
DeleteI live in Chicago and once discovered a possum on my back porch. What made this weird is that I live on the third floor.
DeleteYears ago, my husband opened our front door to go out and there was a possum sitting on our front porch. My husband pointed his finger and said, "Bang bang shoooo." The possum fell over and was still. My husband thought the possum died of fright so he ran back to get me and when I arrived the possum apparently had been faking it and was gone!
DeleteThe squirrels harvested our young plum tree last year. I managed to get one. I see squirrels and rabbits in the back yard all the time. I know there is a skunk herd living across the street and members like to walk through on their way to wherever. And deer roam through in the evenings sometimes. I don't know who to blame for chewing on a Brandywine tomato on the vine before it could ripen, but there are two more out there beginning to turn. Possibly a bird culprit.
ReplyDeleteI think the birds harvested our fig tree. The patio was covered with green figs just half bitten.
DeleteComing to you from Flo and Eddy land! And this time of year, we are life-guarding the chipmunks, so they don't scamper into the pool. -They go SO fast, they just lose track of land and we have to pull them out with a net. As for squirrels, I have felt much respect and admiration for thee after I watched this irresistible video. DO NOT MISS THIS! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZFjoX2cGg
ReplyDeleteDebs, DEFINITELY show it to Rick and Tikka! xxxx
Hank, I meant to post a link to this and I forgot!! Yes, everyone should watch this! It is so entertaining, and so informing. We love Mark Rober! We also love Destin's Smarter Every Day Youtube videos.
DeleteAnd I love that you are rescuing the chipmonks, Hank!
Oh, yes! Squirrels, crows, moose. Living in the country will do that. As for the crows, one comes when I call and then he calls his friends. We have seven regulars and they manage to keep the blue jays at bay. If my crow (we call him Goose, and there is also an Iceman and a Maverick) beats me to the backyard, he won't caw. Instead, he makes a chucking noise until I come out with the peanuts. Then he calls his friends and it's a crow feast!
ReplyDeleteI love this, Kait. And the names. Rick would be jealous of your crow friends.
DeleteWhat a smart crow!
DeleteTikka is adorable, and I think it's so cool that she will eat from Rick's and your hands. We lost our squirrels for a while, but they're back now. Of course, when we had to cut the big tree down out front, that took a lot of habitat away. And, like Annette, it has seemed like a bumper crop of bunnies have made their appearance this year. It's interesting seeing the different ages, as in the grown adult rabbit, the small baby rabbits, and the juvenile rabbits. Opossums are around the area, but I don't really see them in the yard. I'm sure they've been through the yard, just haven't seen them. Unfortunately, we have skunks around, but we're not sure where they are. Philip thinks they're out back, but close enough to occasionally smell. Wondering is one had babies. I wish we lived somewhere that the deer came into our yard or on our property where I could see them, especially with fawns. As far as birds go, we don't have as many as we used to. There are still robins and cardinals and wrens and sparrows, but not as many as years gone by. There is an owl that goes between our fir trees in the very back and our neighbors large oak (?) tree (they had a nest there for a couple of years). It's a Great-Horned Owl, and it seems to seek out Philip's truck to empty its digestive system.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I meant to add yesterday how beautiful your Wren is, Debs. Growing up so fast.
I have “fair weather” squirrels. That is to say they come when the fruit trees are ripe. Otherwise I seldom see them. Smart little critters.
ReplyDeleteI'm seeing this wildly late, but.
ReplyDeleteMy college campus was covered with squirrels. Gray and black. The black ones are bolder, we called them "rebel squirrels." But both varieties were completely unafraid. Woe to the student who fell asleep under a tree with granola or other snacks in an open bag. Many of us learned the trick from one of the Franciscan friars of being completely still and enticing a squirrel to the hand with peanuts or seeds.
My sister, who attended the same college, leaves peanuts on the deck for the squirrels. If she doesn't, one will come to the sliding glass door off the deck and knock. "Excuse me. You forgot something." LOL