Saturday, June 28, 2014

Trapped By His Own Greed!

That sounds like the headline of a sensational story in a supermarket tabloid, doesn't it?  Well, this isn't that kind of article but the title is descriptive.  This is yet another account of the extent to which my resident squirrels will go to consume the seed I put out for small birds.  My husband created a cage to enclose our largest feeder years ago when it became apparent that the squirrels were consuming far more of the seed than the birds.  Then he fortified it with metal sides when the squirrels ate through the original wood slats.  More recently, when the squirrel managed to push in through the bottom, my husband reinforced that with more metal.  But, earlier this week, I looked out of my home office window and saw this:

The squirrel was once again sitting inside the cage surrounding the feeder, eating away

When I came outside, he tried his usual freeze posture to avoid detection

When my continued approach made it clear that didn't work, he scrambled to escape - and failed

He tried hiding from me - he's still there on the opposite side of the feeder

You can just see his tail at the top of the feeder and his little face peaking out at me on the left

Now, he's moved to the right to see if I've gone away yet



I went back into the house to see if he could get himself out of the cage without help.  He tried to find a way out but, failing that, settled down and began eating seed again.

After probing the bottom and sides of the cage for an exit strategy, he gave up and resumed his former activity while I watched from the house



I came out again and we went through a second round of hide-and-seek.

Are the paparazzi back again?!



As the bottom of the cage around the seed canister was still secured, I was fairly certain he must have entered by pushing up the plastic dome cover at the top.  I pushed it up on the side farthest away from me several times to give him an escape route but he was too panicked by my presence to take advantage of the exit.  I returned to the house again to see if he'd work it out on his own.  He did try.

You can see him sitting on top of the feeder below the plastic dome of the cage in this photo taken from inside the house



After another 30-40 minutes, I got some heavy gloves, took the hanging cage down, put it on the ground, and lifted the top off.  He was gone in a flash and hasn't been back yet.  Lesson learned?  I doubt it.

12 comments:

  1. Very amusing post! :) It was fun reading it :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Haha incredible that he found a way in there. The pictures where his little head is sticking out either side are SO sweet.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very funny and cute! Some squirrels will never learn!

    ReplyDelete
  4. The photos of the squirrel peering at you around the bird feeder are hilarious!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Haha....this sounds like a story that could easily happen here.
    Glad he finally got out.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I thought you were going to decide, like Rabbit, that Pooh would just have to wait and get thin again before he could escape his predicament of being wedged in a very tight place. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have a platform feeder I keep full of peanuts and sunflower seeds. My squirrels spend so much time in it stuffing themselves, they ignore the other feeder. Squirrels are hungry, too. And cute. :o)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I laughed out loud at this post! What is to be done with the pesky things!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Squirrels are a pest but I did laugh at your story. The photos of him peeping out from the other side are hilarious. He will be back I expect, the cheeky fellow.

    ReplyDelete
  10. How funny! It's amazing how good the little pests are at getting food. We used to have a feeder with a perch that spun if anything too heavy was on it. It was fun watching the squirrels get flung off. Then one learned how to wedge itself between the perch and the feeder, preventing it from spinning.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm glad you all enjoyed the pictures as much as I did. True to expectations, Mr. Squirrel infiltrated the feeder yet again. I left for an appointment, leaving him to his own devices and he managed his own escape without my assistance that time. Clearly, there is no such thing as a squirrel-proof feeder.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love your photos and commentary! Too funny!

    ReplyDelete

I enjoy receiving your comments and suggestions! Google has turned on reCAPTCHA affecting some commentator IDs so, if you wish to identify yourself, please add your name to your comment.