If you have a bird feeder you have a squirrel feeder, plain and simple. These fur-covered rats from an upscale neighborhood are adept at foiling any attempt to keep them out of the goods. In New York we have gray, red and black squirrels, yes black. You can see the black variety up by Alexandria Bay on the islands. They're immigrants from the Canadian side and you can tell when they chatter and end it with an "eh?" Now and then you might even spy an Albino one. Sure, they're cute, but if they've ever chewed a hole in you eaves to access the roof for family raising you know what a pest they can be. They are extremely smart and are great problem solvers. Mother nature gave them the where-with-all to deal with the greatest of challenges but for some reason they don't get the high-tension wire act where they turn into crispy critters. You've got to admire their guts when it comes to finding food and breaking into it no matter what they have to do to get to it. I spend a fair amount of time in the woods and they're like a circus act in the wild. I've had them almost climb on me when I'm just sitting still and to watch them go spastic when they realize that you're not a tree is funny.
I've also seen some interesting tight-rope acts from these guys but the funniest I ever saw was when I was talking with a fellow bowhunter out by his truck. We were chatting and we both happened to look up at an obviously educated squirrel who jumped from the utility pole and landed on a high tension wire to avoid making contact thereby turning himself into a puff of smoke. You had to admire his balance until halfway across the wire he slipped and fell about 15 feet to the pavement belly first. Splat.... You know we could almost read his mind and we kinda sympathized as he laid there for a minute and slowly got up on all fours and proceeded to crawl to the side of the road. Been there...
TK
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