Monday, July 27, 2009

Squirreling around in Michigan

What would a vacation be without a silly squirrel invading the bird feeder? This time it was a Red Squirrel (we don't have them in southeast Ohio, at least not that I've observed). Of course he outsmarted the "squirrel-proof" feeder, as you will see...


Planning the attack



... searching for a point of entry



... the ol' "swoop and snag"


"No one's watching me, right? That's what I thought."

9 comments:

Tom Arbour said...

Heather- I'm sure you have red squirrels in SE Ohio. We have them in suburban Columbus, they're more rare than gray or even fox squirrels, but they are here. I'm sure you have them in your area as well, especially in areas of coniferous forest. Now you have a challenge!

Tom

Kelly said...

Hahaha! They always figure it out...
We have a few here...as well as a few really dark squirrels and a small neighborhood of albinos. They are in little pockets in Deer Park and Kenwood. I've never seen anything but the standard gray out here! My mom and dad have an albino (true albino with pink eyes). The other squirrels treat him just fine. He's so sweet (but steals just as many seeds, and tomatoes).

Heather said...

Tom - Oh goody, a challenge! Areas of coniferous forest are somewhat limited down here, but they do indeed exist, so I'll have to be on the lookout. I changed the text slightly so as to not look quite as ignorant!

Kelly - Wow, you've got the squirrel rainbow over there! I've never seen an albino squirrel before. I saw only 1 "black" squirrel when we were up in MI - usually we see quite a lot of them, but not so much in the last few years. I'm kind of glad we don't have the red squirrels in our woods - they are WAY more hyper than the greys.

Ginnymo said...

Where there's a will, there's a way! I love red squirrels. But haven't seen any in two years. My gray ones have taken over and scared them off I guess. I love the photos!!

Andy said...

They really are smart little critters. Squirrel proof is anything but!

Heather said...

Ginny - Thanks! I wouldn't think those hyper little red squirrels would be scared of the greys, but maybe they were outnumbered!

Andy - Smart and determined, is what they are. I wonder if they know how entertaining they are to us?

Richard King said...

Animals are smarter than we think, especially certain individuals. It only took one Blue Tit in the UK to work out how to get the cream from outdoor milk bottles with foil lids (and which colour foil had the best cream). That method spread to all Blue tits across the UK in a couple years.

Heather said...

Richard - Wow, that tidbit about the Blue Tits is fascinating! I have no doubts about the intelligence that animals possess, and I'm actually glad to see them "show off their smarts," so to speak!

NW Nature Nut said...

I like the photo where he is just hangin' on with a toe nail. Funny!