Squirrels

[Veronica]

Why do people who feed birds get bothered by squirrels? And sometimes even start killing the squirrels. I don't get it.

I feed feral cats (and I've had them all neutered). I also "feed" skunks, blue jays, raccoons and the occasional possum. I see it as one of the hazards of choosing to take care of the ferals in my neighborhood. Yeah, I'll go out and scare off the wild beasties, but killing them... some other beastie will just take their place.

I guess if they used them for squirrel stew or if the squirrels were somehow damaging the house, I'd "get" it. But just to keep them out of the bird food...


Veronica

[sarahspins]

This has always baffled me too.. I just don't get it either.

[PamNY]

Is that common? Most of my birdwatching friends love squirrels. The interaction between squirrels and hawks is fascinating -- we are all thrilled when the squirrels taunt the hawks.

We are in parks, though. It's not a situation where squirrels are raiding the backyard birdfeeders.

[Crankin]

I don't love squirrels and wouldn't fed them, but I wouldn't kill them, either. We had a squirrel proof bird feeder (2 actually), that really worked. They cost a bit more, but was worth it. Unfortunately, we left them at the old house and after 5 years, it's too late to go back and get them.
A squirrel did break my DH's fork on his bike when it collided with him, descending a hill at 40 mph. Well, it broke one side of the fork, right off.

[ny biker]

My experience with squirrels is that they are either really devious or really stupid. They run halfway across the road, stop, then run back so that they are right in front of you as you approach going fast downhill. Why not just keep going?? Why come back at me???

I shake my fist at them.

[7rider]

We feed the birds. We have a baffle to keep squirrels from climbing up the pole that holds the feeder (they don't need to anyway - the sparrows are such messy eaters, they fling more food to the ground than they consume!), but we'd never, ever, resort to killing them.
We do try to scare away the large flocks of grackles and starlings that will drain our feeder in a matter of moments, and we're no fan of mourning doves.
Our issue is purely economical - they are voracious eaters and will drain a feeder faster than our wallets allow us to refill it. (we go for shell-less seed, which is about 3x's the price of regular, but much cleaner and with less waste).
Opening the window. Shouting. Rapping on the window. These we would do (although we recognize that it's like spitting into the wind).
But never kill.

[Veronica]

Economics - that's probably the answer in this case. :(

Veronica

[sarahkonamojo]

Attracting squirrel, not a problem.
Attracting some cool birds, cool.

Birds can be rodents, too.

S

[PamNY]

and we're no fan of mourning doves.


Do doves drain the feeders as well?

[7rider]

Do doves drain the feeders as well?

No. Not as bad as the grackles and starlings, simply because they don't flock in the same large numbers. Plus, they stick to the ground, mostly (although they do land on the feeder, too).

I just have a bias against them. A friends grandfather, years ago, told me they carried fleas. So I've disliked them ever since. Stupid, I know (I would imagine a lot of birds can carry fleas). But...there it is. :rolleyes:

[OakLeaf]

Economics for sure, but also the general PITA factor (who wants to fill all their bird feeders twice a day and haul a 50# sack from the feed store every week?) and the fact that they scare the birds off. People put up a BIRD feeder, they don't want to watch squirrels.

My problem is raccoons. Squirrels don't bother my feeders, thankfully. I've got the 'coons foiled for the time being, but they're probably building a scaffolding that they'll bring out next week... :rolleyes:

[spokewench]

No. Not as bad as the grackles and starlings, simply because they don't flock in the same large numbers. Plus, they stick to the ground, mostly (although they do land on the feeder, too).

I just have a bias against them. A friends grandfather, years ago, told me they carried fleas. So I've disliked them ever since. Stupid, I know (I would imagine a lot of birds can carry fleas). But...there it is. :rolleyes:

I don't think it is fleas, I think it is mites. And, you probably won't be exposed to them unless the grackles/starlings put a nest on your house.

[badger]

I think the problem some people have with the squirrels is that a lot of the grey and black ones are invasive and squeeze out the indigenous squirrel species. I know that in Cornwall, England, they're systematically eradicating the grey squirrels and re-introducing the native red squirrels.

I know that our native squirrels are being driven to extirpation by these squirrels, too, as they are more aggressive but I'm not sure wiping them out would be the answer, either.

[trista]

I hate squirrels. I wouldn't kill one but I still hate them. First off they drain my birdfeeder in an instant, make a huge mess by spilling the food all over the ground (thus planting weed seeds), and they tear apart my feeder.

We have beautiful birds here, of all different colors. The squirrels scare them away. I want to see the birds, not the ugly squirrels.

I hate bunnies too. They ate everything in my garden when i first planted it. I put up an electric fence to keep them out.

[Norse]

Opening the window. Shouting. Rapping on the window. These we would do (although we recognize that it's like spitting into the wind).
But never kill.

I make a fool of myself shouting, rapping on the windows ... and, it used to work. Now, the crows and squirrels just look at me with an amused look and keep eating. I have to physically run out there and chase them off, but I would never kill them, unless I wanted squirrel stew. :eek:

[OakLeaf]

Burgoo!

[Veronica]

Burgoo!


Thank goodness for Wikipedia. :D


Veronica

[Possegal]

I had to draw the line when the squirrels took up residence in my house. Pay rent or get out! :)

[GLC1968]

We got used to feeding both squirrels and birds in our backyard in NC. It was a pain to have to keep filling the feeders, but shooing the squirrels away was a losing battle.

I did contemplate squirrel murder when we discovered that they were stealing all our tomatoes. Yes, you read that right. Squirrels. They waited until they started to turn red and then picked them using our fence as a ladder. It was amazing that they barely disturbed the plants. We humans didn't get a single tomato that year!

[SpinSpinSugar]

You gals aren't going to like this but....

Last summer my BF bought a small animal trap. He managed to catch a couple of squirrels with it and... well... took them out to the park next to our house with our dogs and turned them loose. One squirrel got away... but the other ended up as doggie dessert.

SpinSpinSugar

[Norse]

I had to draw the line when the squirrels took up residence in my house. Pay rent or get out! :)

A neighbor was home alone one night watching tv when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She turned and there, sitting about one foot away from her on the arm of the coach, was a chipmunk, staring intently at the tv. I don't recall what she was watching. :rolleyes:

[Veronica]

I had a cat that use to watch "Woody the Woodpecker" with me on Saturday mornings.

Veronica

[Selkie]

Because there are lots of old, big/tall trees in our neighborhood, we are over run w/squirrels and they can be a nuisance. Get in your attic, torment your dogs by standing on the windowsills, steal from bird feeders, etc. I don't advocate killing them. To be fair, they were here first, before the humans infiltrated.

Once the oaks start dropping acorns, the squirrels go nuts (sorry for the pun). They will sit in the trees and throw acorns at you. In a mad scramble to accumulate a good stash of acorns, many of them get even more careless about dodging cars. Lots of smooshed squirrels as a consequence. Darwin rules!

Was it the year before last when the oaks weren't producing many acorns in the DC area? We saw a big drop in the squirrel population as a result. Never fear, they are back in force (interestingly, more black ones than grey).

[salsabike]

You gals aren't going to like this but....

Last summer my BF bought a small animal trap. He managed to catch a couple of squirrels with it and... well... took them out to the park next to our house with our dogs and turned them loose. One squirrel got away... but the other ended up as doggie dessert.

SpinSpinSugar

You're right. That is not likable.


I had a cat that use to watch "Woody the Woodpecker" with me on Saturday mornings.

Veronica

THAT is funny. And now I'm going to hear "Ha ha ha HA ha!" in my head all night.

[Selkie]

You gals aren't going to like this but....

Last summer my BF bought a small animal trap. He managed to catch a couple of squirrels with it and... well... took them out to the park next to our house with our dogs and turned them loose. One squirrel got away... but the other ended up as doggie dessert.

SpinSpinSugar

Charming.

[crazycanuck]

I think Squirrels, Chipmunks & those types of creatures are kinda cool :D,. I know i spent quite a bit of time following one whilst in a NYC park..just because..

I wish we had bandicoots and kookaburras in our yard. They're cool :cool:

It's a shame that the cool Australian wildlife will either eat you or scare the sheepies out of you whilst driving...:eek:

[7rider]

Was it the year before last when the oaks weren't producing many acorns in the DC area? We saw a big drop in the squirrel population as a result. Never fear, they are back in force (interestingly, more black ones than grey).

Drop in the number of crows due to West Nile? Yeah, I've noticed it.
Drop in the number of squirrels due to a lack of acorns? Not in our backyard!
They've been pretty steady in all the years we've been around.
Chipmunks, too.
We have lots of fat happy fauna in our back yard - all the way up and down the food chain (we've found big black snake skins in our wood pile where the chipmunks hunker down in the winter with their stash of bird seed, the hawks patrol the feeder for unwary birds, and the fox will cruise around looking for just about anything.).

[Selkie]

7 -- This was either 2009 or 2008 (acorn shortage). IIRC, there was an article in the Post about it at the time. Noticed it in Arlington, since we are surrounded by big old oaks. Maybe Monty Co was spared? South of the Potomac, well, you know it's got issues. ;)

[badger]

You gals aren't going to like this but....

Last summer my BF bought a small animal trap. He managed to catch a couple of squirrels with it and... well... took them out to the park next to our house with our dogs and turned them loose. One squirrel got away... but the other ended up as doggie dessert.

SpinSpinSugar

wow... how unspeakably cruel. At least shooting is instant and humane. I can say more, but I'll keep them to myself.

[PamNY]

Photos (http://palemale-store.stores.yahoo.net/december302009.html) of my all-time favorite squirrel behavior: taunting hawks. There's nothing the hawk can do about it; they usually make a few threatening gestures, then fly away. Scroll down a couple of frames to see the brave squirrel.

Here's a very interesting article (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/06/science/06angi.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=squirrel&st=cse) about squirrels, including how they are similar to primates in some ways. BTW, it's not true that Manhattanites hate squirrels.

[NbyNW]

You gals aren't going to like this but....

Last summer my BF bought a small animal trap. He managed to catch a couple of squirrels with it and... well... took them out to the park next to our house with our dogs and turned them loose. One squirrel got away... but the other ended up as doggie dessert.


Yeah, I don't like this and I'll even go so far as to say I think it's a little sick.

I know that hunting is in their nature, but I also feel that's the difference between a wild animal and a pet.

Our dog has a strong prey instinct but we would NEVER encourage him to kill another animal.

Even hunting breeds are trained to stop at a certain point. Their job is to flush out prey or to locate it, not to make the kill.

[badger]

that's a good (and very important) point you bring up, NbyNW. It's one thing to have a dog that would chase small animals, but it's another to encourage it. Squirrels today, cats tomorrow, who knows what else after that if you don't stop that behaviour?

Very irresponsible.

[GLC1968]

that's a good (and very important) point you bring up, NbyNW. It's one thing to have a dog that would chase small animals, but it's another to encourage it. Squirrels today, cats tomorrow, who knows what else after that if you don't stop that behaviour?

Very irresponsible.

Chickens or livestock tomorrow. I hate this. Soooo many country folk encourage their dogs to kill small game and to a dog, small game also includes the neighbors' livestock. I can't tell you how many times we've had to beat our neighbors' jack russell off our chickens. One of our girls finally died due to complications from her dog fight injuiries, too. :mad:

Honestly, even cats that kill small game are better. At least they are somewhat selective and won't go after an animal that is bigger than it. Dogs have no concept of size, so no animal is safe. (I know of people who lost full sized goats to neighborhood dogs, too - it was a horrible blood bath!)

[badger]

:mad: god, this whole thing makes me sick.

[Selkie]

Yeah, I don't like this and I'll even go so far as to say I think it's a little sick.



Exactly my first thought when I read it. More than a little sick, too.

[IFjane]

Chickens or livestock tomorrow. I hate this. ... (I know of people who lost full sized goats to neighborhood dogs, too - it was a horrible blood bath!)

Back in my equestrian days, we found one of our mares and her foal out in the pasture, covered with sweat. The foal had scratches on her back legs and we couldn't figure out what had happened. Later that afternoon my father found out; there he was, a neighbor's German Shepherd running that foal around the field, grabbing at it's back legs, trying to pull it down. The mare was running alongside but didn't know what to do to protect her baby except run. Dad intervened, called the neighbor and the dog eventually had to be put down because of its aggressive behavior. Horrid for the foal but thankfully she survived; horrid for the dog because it had been allowed to develop this behavior. Shame on the neighbor and shame on anyone who thinks teaching a dog to kill is a good thing.

[bmccasland]

Photos (http://palemale-store.stores.yahoo.net/december302009.html) of my all-time favorite squirrel behavior: taunting hawks. There's nothing the hawk can do about it; they usually make a few threatening gestures, then fly away. Scroll down a couple of frames to see the brave squirrel.

Really cool photos! And the person who posted them had a sense of humor too. Love some of the captions! :D

[schnitzle]

Squirrels, love to hate them or hate to love them? ;) They're so darned funny, but then also such a pain when they steal your just ripening strawberries, or dig up a tulip bulb take a bite and throw it aside! Someone in my neighborhood feeds them peanuts because I find a lot of rotten peanuts when I'm gardening XD I'd never kill one.

I've actually seen a rat in my bird feeder :eek: It must have crawled long the tree branch and down onto the feeder. We have a lot of ivy in our area, so I assume they live there. Not much I can do. Of course that was before I had dogs. Now the small creatures only venture into my yard early in the morning or at night after the noisy patrol are asleep :P I kind of miss the wildlife to be honest!