Bird Feeders Are for the Birds, I Thought…
We really enjoy feeding the birds at our house. We have several feeders on our decks and keep them stocked in black oil sunflower seed and thistle seed. Earlier in the spring we had a wonderful array of what I consider special birds; the scarlet tanager, Baltimore Oriole, rose-breasted grosbeak, purple finch, as well as chickadees, nuthatches, and gold finches. Now, I am wondering what happened? Who spread the word about the good food available at our house?
OK, time to get out the squirrel-proof feeders.
Well, that didn’t work. How about the one with the protective cage on the outside.
Guess I’ll try the thistle seed bird feeder. Squirrels are too big to get into that one.
I think I give up. Here are some quick bits of info on squirrels and chipmunks. First of all squirrels and chipmunks belong to the same family of rodents (makes sense to me now). Chipmunks have a lot in common with ground squirrels, but not so much tree squirrels (the type you see in my photos) or flying squirrels. Other facts include:
- Squirrels can jump 20 feet.
- Squirrels have excellent eyesight, but are born blind.
- A squirrel’s tail serves many purposes such as shielding the squirrel from the elements of sun and rain, used as a stabilizer when jumping, used as a parachute when they fall, and used as a rudder when they swim.
- Chipmunks use their cheek pouches to take pieces of food to to their burrows, either to store for later or to eat now.
So who’s smarter, squirrels or humans?
Pinetree Photo's Nature Discovery Blog 
Howdy! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading this post reminds
me of my good old room mate! He always kept talking about this.
I will forward this page to him. Fairly certain he will have a good read.
Thank you for sharing!
I so enjoyed your squirrel escapades and trivia! Your pictures had me smiling, your narrative had me laughing out loud.
Great shots Carol. You illustrate perfectly why I haven’t fed the birds in years. 😦
Squirrels : )