“What is that big thing way up there in that tree?” asked Melanie as we finished dinner on the deck. It was a groundhog 30 ft up a Mulberry tree munching on leaves. It is a favorite food for them. I went to a better location and recorded this video. The next day it was 40 ft up the same tree. We’ve had previous encounters with our resident rodent described in these posts.
by Melanie and Jim
Eastern Grey Squirrel – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Kevstan
Squirrels. We got ’em. They are found nearly everywhere in the world. Australia, you might have them, too. For those of us who enjoy being outside, squirrels are a source of amusement and sometimes annoyance. One evening in the fall, we had dinner on our deck. It’s a screened porch that backs up to just a few feet from the trees behind the house. An unusual evening in a way, we were able to enjoy our meal without the drone of mowers anywhere in the neighborhood. We had that in the middle of summer, too, deep in the drought when the grass wasn’t growing. But then it was too warm to enjoy being out for long.
From our deck we can see the birds flying in to the feeders. There are three, plus a suet feeder in the winter. One feeder is for the hummingbirds in summer, one is a small tube feeder that the chickadees and finches use, and one is a larger tube. The large tube feeder is well stocked with sunflower seed. Almost all of the birds enjoy that feeder, with the nuthatches swooping in so fast, taking one seed and darting away. Flickers, downy and hairy woodpeckers, and red-bellied woodpeckers all stay longer, taking their time before flying off again. Chickadees, titmouses, house finches, blue jays, all take their turns. We get quite the show from our deck.
The squirrels would love to feed from it, too. But, they have a problem with it. That feeder is a Yankee Flipper, made by the Droll Yankees company. (We are not associated with the company in any way, but we have found their “squirrel-proof” feeder effective and their customer service helpful.) Watch what happens to this squirrel as it tries to access seed from the Yankee Flipper in our backyard.
We’ve had our feeder for several years, and for the most part, the squirrels don’t bother it anymore. The first few days of it were great. Old Uncle Fred must have taught the young ‘uns what happened when he tried it once. Instead they glean the seeds from the ground below, the bits and pieces missed or dropped by the birds.
I posed the question to the Google to define mole. Here is some of what I got.
Interesting set of results, don’t you think? This post is about #5.
Don, my next door neighbor, and I live at the edge of a wooded area. There are lots of moles burrowing in the woods. They tend to come into our…
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Our View From Iowa 