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| The feeders are just an easy climb up the branch and a little jump for the squirrels now. |
Aunt Martha and Uncle Billy have a very nice feeder set up for the birds in their yard. They have things for big birds, little birds, seed eaters, and insect eaters. The have lower perches and higher perches and during the summer they grow flowers under the feeders that attract birds. The birds appreciate their efforts as seen by the many of them that frequent there each day. In fact when I visit Aunt Martha, I often have a hard time concentrating on the business at hand because I am distracted by watching all of the birds. If we have something important to discuss, she makes me sit with my back to the feeder.
So when I found out Uncle Billy had drawn my name for Christmas, I asked for a branch to be installed close to my feeder like they have at theirs. I hoped that would be the first of several additions I had planned to my set up. And on Christmas Eve, it magically appeared.
As I had hoped, the birds flocked to it. Yeah! However, what I had forgotten to calculate into the equation was that we had just added a convenient way for the squirrels to get to the feeder. How soon I had forgotten that we had worked so hard on a setup to keep the squirrels out of the bird feeder. This included placing the feeder at a distance far enough from the trees so the squirrels couldn't easily jump from one of them onto the it.
I'm not sure what to do now. The birds are enjoying the new branch, but not as much as the squirrels are. And if truth be told, the squirrels are pretty fun to watch. However, the birds don't come around so much when they're there. And it's pretty expensive to feed a squirrel as much suet as it wants to eat.
So for now, as we consider the next move, we're enjoying both the squirrels and the birds, And we're looking for sales on bird food. :)
Here are a few pictures of the squirrels with their new-found treat.
