Pets – Page 21 – Robot Claw

The Endless Parade Of Squirrels

June 2, 2010

Those two squirrel feeders we put up last week? They worked.

They vastly prefer this one, containing the real ears of (dried) corn. They demolish the corn in only a single day, eating only the germ out of the husk and letting the rest drop to the ground for the birds (and chipmunks?). We’ll be restocking this one for months.

This one is more work for them, and perhaps not as delicious. It affords us (and the cats) a better view though.

I saw a red squirrel on monday, for the first time in our yard. I had seen some in Albany before, but they are much, much rarer than grey squirrels. Sadly he wasn’t at a feeder, but running away from our yard!

Here’s the few shots of interest taken from the wildlife camera I had placed on our back patio:

Isn’t the ‘action shot’ cool? I love crows, almost more than squirrels. Always have, always will. Those are peanuts they are eating – we toss them out the window for the wildlife to snack on.

Last week we had a baby crow living in our yard. He couldn’t fly, and was being fed by parents who cawed noisily whenever we went into the backyard, obviously trying to scare us away. We dubbed him ‘hopping crow’ and kept an eye on him, hoping we’d not repeat the squirel tragedy of the other week in crow form.

Happily, in a few days his fluttery almost-flying turned into the real thing and he took wing. If he’s living in our yard anymore it’s in the trees and not under them. Which is a good thing 🙂

The shot on the left is a mystery bird. I tried to identify it, but I’m no ornithologist. My best guess is that it is an ‘i’iwi, and the drab appearance is an illusion brought on by being drowned in sunlight. Anyone else have an opinion?

As for the shot on the right. Well your guess is as good as mine!

My Home Office

May 26, 2010

When I work at home (most of the time) I do so in the living room on our dining room table. It has become a de facto office (since I actually have an office). Here’s a shot of what it looks like today:

Sometimes it can be struggle to actually get work done…

Squirrel Gone To Heaven

May 23, 2010

Several months ago we hung a suet feeder in our backyard to give the birds a little something to snack on during the final weeks of winter.

It didn’t take long before the birds noticed, and started snacking:

This didn’t bother us in the slighest because
a) We both love squirrels, and
b) You have to respect such drive and industriousness

But even though we were used to the wily ways of these furry little garden kings, imagine our surprise when one day we found the following scene:

If you’re having trouble deciphering that image, it shows the suet feeder right up at the branch level. Something had apparently reeled it in using the chain until it wasn’t hanging, but simply available right at the branch. In other words something was apparently tired of going to the suet, and instead chose to bring the suet to himself.

I like to think this is the culprit:

That photo was taken three days ago. It shows a big fat squirrel reclining in the sun, flying squirrel style, on the edge of our patio. I observed this while chatting on the phone with SFL, and was so amused/intrigued I had to snap a shot. It was such unusual squirrel behaviour I was a little concerned and tossed out a snack for him, which he immediately ran over to and ate. So he was just resting.

Sadly, yesterday we found the same squirrel dead in our yard.

He was in a similar position, just sitting on the grass. No sign of trauma, no sign of discomfort. He was a big guy, heavier than I ever thought a squirrel may be. And so soft. We both had a cry yesterday when we realized he was dead. Yeah, yeah ‘circle of life’ and all… but the fact he was in our backyard made him almost a pet.

So in tribute we went out and purchased two new squirrel feeders as a treat for the many other local squirrels. Here they both are:

Real corn and fake corn. One at the back of the yard, and one near the house. Both seem ‘squirrel proof’ in the sense that the squirrels should only be able to take the food, and not the entire device. But we shall see. Hopefully they will come soon and start eating, and hopefully we can once again have a squirrel we can think of as our very own 🙂