But there are other creatures which also enjoy visiting and participating in our buffet - namely, our nasty neighborhood squirrels. And they are not only nasty but they are very intelligent and crafty. I've tried to declare war on them ... but I must admit that I've lost. Their IQ's must be much greater than mine.
Because of my surgery I have recently had hours to sit and watch the birds and the squirrels. My main feeder was to be "squirrel proof". But it wasn't and I now doubt if there is such a thing. It had a covering on a spring which would close the feeding areas whenever a squirrel got on it. And that part usually worked. But these nasty visitors learned to break and bend the metal that would cover the feeding areas. Their teeth must be like wire cutters.
Then while I was watching one day, one of the squirrels discovered how to pop off the top of the feeder. He could then stick his head right into the feeder and eat all that he wanted. We would close it and he'd come right back and pop it once again. And in the process of opening it he also chewed off part of the plastic feeder itself. I thought that maybe if I put something like vaseline on the lid that this would defeat them. I even tried adding hot pepper. But it made no difference.
With plenty of time to watch and think, I finally came up with a way to prevent him from popping off the cap. And it worked. But that didn't stop him. He appeared to know what I had done and he tried without success to remove the clamps and wire that I had used. When he couldn't do it, he went back to bending the metal to get some food. I was beaten once again.
My next attack was to replace the damaged feeder. I invested in a new, more expensive feeder that advertised it was "squirrel proof". Now I am a slow learner and should have realized that there is no such thing. It didn't take long for them to learn that if they hung on the cage, food would fall out of the holes. They could then retrieve it on the bottom of the cage or on the ground.
But I wasn't done. I decided to put tape over the holes that were releasing the most food. Surely that would work. But, of course, it didn't. I should have known that I couldn't outsmart them. They continued to come and hang on the cage and somehow get enough to make them happy. And they are no longer scared by our banging on the window. When we come out and clap or yell at them they just go higher in the tree and "hide" until we leave.
Now maybe they have engineering degrees since they explored all parts of the new bird feeder looking for weak points. This didn't bother me since with the cost of this trap there couldn't be any weak points. Wrong! One day I came out and didn't see the feeder. When I looked closer, I saw it was on the ground and wide open. I don't have any idea at all how they accomplished this. Maybe I could have beat them if I had just finished my engineering program instead of becoming a math teacher. Probably not, I am now convinced that their IQ is just far superior than mine.
So that's where things are now. I admit defeat. Maybe I just need to buy more feed and feed the birds and the squirrels .... or maybe buy a shotgun! But with my luck I'd probably end up in jail.
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| One of my visitors at work! |
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