Open Up
My Animal Kingdom
24 June 2012
“Hey, Lady, open up!”
I swear the squirrel about had his face plastered to our glass storm door when I looked out. Nearly gave me a heart attack. This sleek little fellow was the emissary sent by the other five watching from across the driveway. He was in charge of asking, “What the hell, lady? It’s still light out and that guy already put away the bird feeders for the night. In the galvanized can we can’t gnaw through! Open it up and get out the food.” The Prince Consort was not moved. The bird feeders stayed put-away until the next morning when I set them back up. We lock up the feeders not so much because the squirrels will gnaw through a feeder, but because the raccoons will disassemble and scatter the parts during the night. So go talk to the raccoons about why the bird feeders are locked up at night.
The garage wren thinks I should stick to opening the front door and keep the garage door closed. He’s claimed it as his territory. If the male built the nest, he snagged a lady. The Prince Consort is tall enough to see two little eyes not moving off that nice private nest built on a pile of soft towels, high in the cool garage. So that’s one vote for us to NOT open the door.
On the other hand the raccoon is pleased that I left the kitchen door open. He helped himself to most of Nikkicat’s dry food. Not that I’m unduly paranoid, but it seems more than coincidental that we had a raccoon in our kitchen a couple of weeks after my brother-in-law live-trapped and relocated the raccoon who waltzed into their house, ate the cat kibble by the cat door, then ambled into the family room to see what was on cable. My sister was awfully vague on where her husband relocated their raccoon. Granted they live in Texas and I live in Kentucky, but … Road TRIP!
I’m out on the deck writing this, and in the back ground, other than grasshoppers mapping how hot today is going to be, I hear all kinds of birds, and critters. AND I hear the bird feeders rattling as the squirrels empty them. They figured out how to open and get inside of the old feeder. As for the new ‘squirrel proof’ feeder. Very funny.
I believe this is called a stupid human trick. A human buys a ‘squirrel proof’ bird feeder, which we did. Fills it, hangs it in the tree, and sits back to watch only the birds feed. One minute later the first squirrel is on the feeder. He never bothers to land on the weight bar that closes up the feeder portholes. Oh, no. He simply hangs from the top of the feeder and scoops out the sunflower seed. Learning curve: Squirrel- nothing. Human: $15.99.
And some of the nervy little fur bags over-do the open-up the bird feeders and gorge trick. Too full to leave the bird feeder area, this fellow stretched out for a nap in the shade.
Kath who opens the doors cautiously, and guards her chocolate in a metal safe with a combination lock that should take the raccoon at least a week to crack .
