No Squirrels were hurt in the writing of this post…drat.

The bird feeders are getting a workout today. Temperatures are in the mid/low thirties and we had some snow last night. It is the wet and heavy kind. I think the temperatures and the covered ground have brought more than the normal amount of birds to my feeders.

I’ve seen cardinals (2 males and female at one time), blue jay, titmouse, chickadee, house finches, and I think two types of sparrows, juncos, a woodpecker and a wren. In some cases where I can’t tell a male from a female (woodpeckers and wrens) there might have been more than just one bird, taking turns.

My parents always had a feeder (or two) in the backyard. With the large plate glass window in the kitchen looking over that part of the yard it was a great set up for bird watching all year long. It was ‘free’ entertainment if you don’t count the cost of the seed.

The unwelcome visitors were the squirrels. My sweet aunt battled them at her feeders every way she could think of. Even bought (or was gifted for Christmas) a ‘squirrel proof’ feeder that closed down when the weigh of a squirrel landed on it. They ripped that shield back. Yes, no love lost on squirrels.

My dad set up a ‘spinner’. A turning pole with a weight on one end and screw for securing a dried cob of corn on the other. The squirrels would run up it and their weight would ‘spin’ them right off…until it didn’t. Some squirrel started clinging tight and riding it out, spinning like crazy and gnawing away at the corn cob. It was pretty funny to watch and the squirrels were only paying back in amusement for what they ate in bird food.

I have squirrels here, but with a cat and a dog, they are pretty cautious about time at the feeders. The dog would love to get one and the cat would be game also. But as I mostly see birds at the feeders I don’t begrudge the squirrels some of the food.

What’s a winter snow day like in your yard?

Yes, we would rather the world didn’t have squirrels, thank you very much.