The Squirrel Saga
The squirrel saga started several years ago when I was still feeding birds in my backyard. The little furry birdseed thieves aggressively attacked the birdfeeder. To discourage them, I coated the post of the feeder with petroleum jelly. They didn’t give up easily. I had a bit of guilt at how much I enjoyed their antics climbing up, then sliding down. Eventually they did give up, and I thought the game was over.
Then I changed the variety of bird seed I offered. The birds were unimpressed, and scattered it out of the feeder onto the ground. Those crafty squirrels were quick to catch on. I still, naturally, wanted the bird food to go to the birds, so I started throwing stones at the squirrels. I wasn’t trying to hit them, just to convince them that my neighbors’ yards would be better places to forage.
Then, one day, I actually did hit a squirrel with a stone. He fell to the ground, stunned, but then got up and ran off. Apparently, he spread the word to his colleagues, and I saw no squirrels for some time. Then for Christmas a grandson gave me a slingshot, and we spent Christmas Day afternoon out in the pasture shooting beebee’s at a target. I never developed any real aim, but I can now claim to be armed and dangerous.
Unrelated to the squirrel issue, another year I built a 6-foot fence across the back of my garden. My furry ‘friends’ seemed to enjoy running across the fence, and at first showed no desire to come down into the garden. My next garden improvement was to replace the heavy clay soil with light, fertile, loam. It didn’t take long for the sneaky furry interlopers to realize how easy it is to bury peanuts, helpfully provided by a neighbor, in the light new soil.
Squirrels are not the only clever critters in my garden, however. This year, a pair of Stellar Jays nested nearby. They quickly discovered the nice little snacks the squirrels were providing. Soon, I was enjoying watching the jays from my living room window, as the jays in turn watched the squirrels.
The grand climax of the story came last week. As the squirrels planted their peanuts, I noticed the jays sitting on the fence watching. Soon, the squirrels move a short distance away, not beyond the fence, just where they could watch events in the garden feed lot. The minute one of the jays game down to feast, a squirrel ‘flew’ in furiously and attacked him. A mad flurry of fun and feathers, and the jays retreated to the roof, the squirrels to my next-door neighbors’ garden. Apparently both species abandoned the fray, and peace now reigns in the garden.
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