FOTD – November 30 – Red squirrels ate the orange mums
I looked out the windows. Two plump red squirrels were chowing down on the orange chrysanthemums. I looked again because as far as I know, squirrels don’t eat flowers. There was no mistaking it. I hustled to get my camera and managed to get a couple of shots before they skedaddled away.
So today, you get the flowers and flower eating squirrels. There were two of them, but by the time I got my camera, they’d gone back to the feeder with the mealworms and suet. I think it’s personal. They see the camera and next thing I get is the shake of a tail.
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Categories: #Flowers, #FOTD, #Photography, #Squirrel, Blackstone Valley, Cee's Photo Challenge
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Hmmmmm …
We drink chrysanthemum tea (from dried flowers) in this part of the world, so maybe the fresh flowers taste good too! The squirrels know ….
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I’m guessing they must taste good because there was plenty of other food available. I thought it was really interesting seeing them pulling the mums out of the pot and eating them with gusto. Who knew?
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The strange things we encounter in nature!
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I suppose there’s no reason they shouldn’t eat flowers. I just didn’t think they did and no one ever suggested it. If I hadn’t actually SEEN them eating the flowers, I wouldn’t believe it either.
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Oh I just laughed when I read your title. Brilliant photo for today 😀
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Thanks! It was certainly unique. I really didn’t think squirrels ate flowers. NOW I want to know what OTHER flowers they eat — if any. We’ve been blaming it on the skunks and deer. Maybe the squirrels are going at it too!
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Looks like these squirrels will eat anything!
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Did they sneak some acorns in among the flowers?
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I do find empty acorn shells on the deck sometimes, but I don’t know if they were eaten or that just hulls that fell. I really have no idea.
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They ate my orange mums as well!! I thought I was crazy but would wake every morning with one or two branches torn right off.
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Is it just ORANGE mums? Or do they like ALL mums? Inquiring minds want to know. Until I actually saw them pulling the flowers out of the pot and eating them, I would have thought I was crazy because squirrels don’t eat flowers. Are mums the exception or are there others? I’ll have to do some research, but I’m glad I’m not the only one with flower munching squirrels!
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What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here? Maybe the squirrels fear it’s the end of days. Just eat!
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Strange behaviour but how great that you caught it on camera! That last photo is especially cute 🙂
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Now I’m wondering what other flowers they eat, if any. Everything I’ve read about squirrels says they eat any kind of grain, insects, bird’s eggs (when the birds don’t attack first), acorns and other nuts and sometimes, fruit. But flowers? Was it the seeds in the mums or they just like the taste?
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These pictures are adorable.
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I was definitely caught short. I’ve seen them sitting on the table next to the mums but never saw them eating any. This was a first.
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That’s a first for me too! But cute they are…. maybe their diet missed some parts the mums have, I wouldn’t know. I got my ‘lecture’ years ago when I planted pansies in my window boxes for winter. In spring I had no flowers but I saw birds coming and leaving with the flowers in their beaks…. Strange diet too!
Saw birds eating the pansies’ blooms too in a park where there were hundreds of the plants and ditto of birds. LIfe is full of surprises.
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And when you read about them, they never mention flowers. But obviously, they DO eat flowers. What OTHER flowers, I wonder? I think mums can be made into a tea (like roses). Lacking a stove and fire, I guess eating them raw is the best they can do? They left them alone all summer, so I figured it was the seeds in the dying flowers. But maybe they really LIKE them?
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Your ‘seeds idea’ sounds very reasonable to me…. I don’t like the smell of the mums, they smell like death (not that I’d know about that!).
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Next up for the squirrels: Bread Pudding!
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Some sort of herbal fix?
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It might be. There may be something in the chrysanthemums that is healthful for squirrels. But honestly, this was a first for me.
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they probably couldn’t resist how pretty they were
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I would go with that except they left them alone all summer — and haven’t touched the red ones. So maybe there’s carotene or some other herbal substance in orange mums? How does one find out? It’s not as if I haven’t looked them up — and no one ever suggested flowers for squirrels — orange or otherwise.
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