They are not the very last. We’ll put the feeder back up in November when the weather begins to get cold. And I have a lot of folders of birds with a fair number of unprocessed photographs. But now, it’s time for our cohort of squirrels to go back to the forest and rediscover the joy of squirreldom.
This morning I went out on the deck and there were half a dozen of them. Two in the feeders, another couple on the railing, and a few on the deck itself. I suppose they were all awaiting their turn. I finally went out onto the deck and physically ejected them. They apparently believe it’s their personal stash of goodies and are protecting it from humans and birds.
If I didn’t think Duke would jump the fence and break all his bones on the way down, I’d put him out there to guard the stash. Sadly, he is a jumper and Gibbs mostly wants lots of time spent napping on the sofa. Chasing squirrels is not high on his agenda.
And, I should add, with considerable determination.
Lady Cardinal in a tree
Rosefinch and Cowbird
Rosefinch on the rail
Possibly pregnant squirrel?
Now that I look at the pictures I realize I have more of them. Possibly a lot more of them. So you’ll see more. I have to process more of them too.
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Categories: #Birds, #Birds, #Photography, #Squirrel, Marilyn Armstrong, Wildlife
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Good idea to stop feeding them in the good times. There should be lots of food out there for them now. Mustn’t let them lose those skills of finding their own food. Great photos, Marilyn.
Leslie
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I know it’s the right thing to do, but I feel really bad for them. They look like they are being abandoned. I think they’ve forgotten how to get wild food, which isn’t really a good thing. They need to remember!
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You’d better stop now so they can forage when food is plentiful.
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That’s what I think, though I can tell they don’t agree. I think some of the babies have never eaten anywhere but here. They need to relearn skills to keep them alive. My son just called to remind me to STOP FEELING GUILTY. Thank you son.
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You have a good son there Marilyn.
Leslie
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It’s a Jewish thing. We always feel guilty and we pass it on, parent to child. “Do your homework. Do you know how lucky you are to have the opportunity to get an education when millions of children don’t? Oy.”
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We do that too only it’s usually about food. Eat your dinner, there are a lot of people going hungry.
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Your finches are gorgeous!
The squirrels are just greedy hogs! 😉
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The squirrels are rodents and they have to eat to keep their teeth from overgrowing their mouths. I get that. But now, it’s time for the wild creatures to remember their natural habitat. There’s plenty of food out there now. I wanted to keep the feeders up for the photographs, but I’ve got plenty of squirrel pictures and the birds have almost given up. The squirrels chase them away and I’m tired of chasing the squirrels away so the birds can at least get an hour to eat before the furry ones come back. I think by November, they will all have fresh attitudes.
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I think by November the squirrels will have built up an appetite for fresh nuts/seeds!
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It was kind of depressing. The feeders are now empty, and the birds AND squirrels were all trying desperately to get more seeds. I remind myself that regardless we’d have to take the feeders down because we are treating the deck and I can’t leave seeds up. They’d be tainted by the chemicals, but I did feel really bad. They looked so forlorn!
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It’ll do ’em good! Make a man squirrel out of them, learn to survive by their wits (for a time) 😉
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I feel bad for them, but it’s time for them to forage and this is the best time to do it. There’s plenty for them to eat. It’s just that some of them have never eaten in the wild. They are ADDICTED and I’m the dealer!
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I suspect that dealing to squirrels is nowhere near as profitable as dealing to the two-legsses! 🙂
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That’s my theory.
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Just these days I was wondering if you stopped feeding them AT ALL before next winter! And those photos are no less than stunning. Love the bokeh effects and I’m deeply in love with your birds. Thank you for the joy!
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Either pregnant or was very recently. Either way, you’ll have a whole bunch of little furry mouths waiting for the feeder to come back…
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The feeder was completely empty this morning. I looked out and there were squirrels everywhere. On the railing, on the feeders, and the steps, waiting on the deck. We have to take them down anyway. We need to powerwash the deck and paint it with protective stuff to keep it from falling apart over the next year, so in any case, they would have to come down. I’ll put them back up in November when the weather starts to get cold. There’s more than enough food in the woods now, so no one is going to starve because the restaurant is closed for the season.
Truly, I’ve never seen SO many squirrels in one small area at a time. I think some of them ARE the babies of the parents who got their winter vittles here. Time for them to remember how to be squirrels again. Besides, there really ARE bears in the area and we’ve all been warned to take down bird feeders. The bears like them as much as the squirrels, but at several hundred pounds per Black bear, I think I’ll skip that experience.
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You will probably get visits from indignant squirrels for a few days before they decide to look elsewhere for their food. It’s been a lot of fun seeing them and the lovely birds for the past few months.
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lovely portraits- the squirrel at the end made me chuckle …
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I’ve been trying to figure out if she was pregnant. She sure looks it, doesn’t she?
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Now that you mention it, she does.
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It looks like she is nursing. She certainly is HUNGRY.
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