Normally, I wouldn't give a squirrel the time of day, but this guy was pretty cute and persistent. He spent at least a couple of hours burrowing in the snow under my bird feeder looking for something to eat. Diving head first into the snow and then popping up with the occasional sunflower seed.
On any other day, I would find Mr. Squirrel and his friends a pain in the birdfeeder. Sometimes I feel like Bill Murray in Caddyshack. While he's trying to outsmart the gopher, I'm trying to outsmart the squirrel. This includes double-baffling my bird feeder poles and sticking them out in no-man's land. You think your gourmet nut-and-berry bird seed is safe and then you turn around and there's a squirrel sitting in the feeder eating it all! Sometimes I have found myself lying in wait just so I can see how they do it. I have witnessed squirrels hang by their toes from my gutters, scale the brick on my house and leap from scraggly branches in a single bound! All for the love of a nut. What can I say? It pays to be persistent. The early bird may get the worm, but the in-it-for-the-long-haul squirrel gets the gourmet nut and berry bird seed.
My dad had a squirrel as a pal for a while...
ReplyDeletecalled it "Bruno" (don't ask me why he'd name a wild critter.) Well anyway, my dad tamed "Bruno" to such a degree that while he relaxed on our front porch swing, the squirrel would hop up and dig into my dad's pants pockets to retrieve some nuts stashed there. Bruno became a bit too tame...he'd scratch at the front door screen - looking for attention...and he'd follow my mom around (much to her dismay) - nipping at her heels - as she hung the wash to dry in the backyard. Shortly therafter, Bruno just disappeared... h-m-m-m...just coincidence?
Sure!!!