Creative, funny, maddening – squirrels are certainly all that! They and I have discussions from time to time. Such as the current discussion in regard to the suet feeder. It is for the birds, I tell them. They are getting pleny of oils from the peanuts and sunflower seeds. For the flicker and woodpecker family, suet is essential, I say, trying to get the squirrels to leave the feeder alone. No go.
I tried to use a baffle, but couldn’t get it over the bottom of the double pronged pole. So I put lard all over the pole – that worked for nearly a year, since the squirrels didn’t like getting so messy. The snow over the past couple of weeks gave them a higher level to run and leap from, shortening the gap. And I found lots of squirrel fur stuck in the lard this morning. So they’ve clearly gotten over their dislike of a messy coat.
I also think they enjoy the chance to show off their acrobatics, hanging by one paw on to the pole and swinging down to the feeder. They also enjoy harrassing each other, almost playing tag to see who gets up there first.
Think I’ll do a little googling this afternoon, to see if anyone on the planet has ideas I haven’t tried yet. Thus the game goes on.