Outdoor Column | Les Winkeler: Squirrels not taking a hit from COVID - The Southern
Between COVID-19 and squirrels, it feels I’m living the Book of Exodus.
The pandemic has kept us close to home throughout 2020, meaning I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time watching my bird feeders. That has paid off. In a normal year, I probably wouldn’t have noticed the white-winged dove that visited my yard, and the red-breasted nuthatch currently in residence may have gone unnoticed.
However, midway through the summer I shut down my bird feeders.
Food is plentiful at that time of the year. In addition, our tomato plants got off to a late start. They didn’t start setting fruits until August. Since my wife loves homegrown tomatoes, I took down most of our feeders.
Oh, the birds don’t bother the plants, but the feeders draw hordes of squirrels — my sworn enemies.
That strategy worked.
The tomato plants produced a late, albeit, bumper crop. We harvested the final ripe tomatoes in late October. Then, earlier this month, we picked all the green tomatoes just prior to the first frost, allowing them to ripen in window sills throughout our house.
The tomatoes were untouched by the furry freeloaders that inhabit our neighborhood. In fact, for an eight week period, there were no squirrels in our yard. It was glorious. My blood pressure dipped to below stroke levels.
As soon as the last tomatoes were safely stored in the house, the bird feeders went back up. It was already well into the fall migration and I didn’t want to miss anything.
It took a day or two, but the birds slowly returned. There were house finch, cardinals, chickadees and for a week or so an invasion of pine siskins.
Thankfully, the squirrels kept their distance. Crazy thoughts entered my mind. Perhaps I had broken them of the habit. Is it possible they found someone else in the neighborhood to sponge off of? Perhaps without my handouts they had moved across town.
All those thoughts were foolhardy.
I awoke one morning to find a squirrel teetering wildly over the side of the fence, precariously gripping a feeder with his front paws. I banged on the back door loudly. The noise startled him, causing him to lose his grip on the feeder and tumble to the ground.
The momentary laughter was tempered by the knowledge that like Arnold Schwarzenegger, “They’d be back.”
And, they returned with a vengeance — a veritable plague. Of course, I don’t have to worry about famine. There are enough squirrels in my yard to feed a large family for months.
There are five seed feeders and a suet cake within view of my back door. The other morning several squirrels were eating to their hearts’ content as I walked past. I angrily pounded on the back door and watching in amazement as nine squirrels — NINE — fled for the safety of my neighbor’s yard.
Watching them scurry across the driveway brought to mind the Pied Piper storybook my mother used to read to me when I was a child.
Apparently, the pounding on the door had some effect. Only six squirrels returned the next morning.
However, I’m not deluding myself. They’ll be back and bring their friends. There will be no social distancing at the feeders. Unfortunately, COVID-19 doesn’t dissuade squirrels from dining together.
LES WINKELER is the outdoors writer for The Southern Illinoisan. Contact him at les@winkelerswingsandwildlife.com, on Twitter @LesWinkeler.
Get local news delivered to your inbox!
2020-11-27 18:00:00Z
https://thesouthern.com/outdoors/outdoor-column-les-winkeler-squirrels-not-taking-a-hit-from-covid/article_da282e7f-b5e0-56ce-88b1-7471122fa490.html
CBMilAFodHRwczovL3RoZXNvdXRoZXJuLmNvbS9vdXRkb29ycy9vdXRkb29yLWNvbHVtbi1sZXMtd2lua2VsZXItc3F1aXJyZWxzLW5vdC10YWtpbmctYS1oaXQtZnJvbS1jb3ZpZC9hcnRpY2xlX2RhMjgyZTdmLWI1ZTAtNTZjZS04OGIxLTc0NzExMjJmYTQ5MC5odG1s0gGYAWh0dHBzOi8vdGhlc291dGhlcm4uY29tL291dGRvb3JzL291dGRvb3ItY29sdW1uLWxlcy13aW5rZWxlci1zcXVpcnJlbHMtbm90LXRha2luZy1hLWhpdC1mcm9tLWNvdmlkL2FydGljbGVfZGEyODJlN2YtYjVlMC01NmNlLTg4YjEtNzQ3MTEyMmZhNDkwLmFtcC5odG1s
les
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Outdoor Column | Les Winkeler: Squirrels not taking a hit from COVID - The Southern"
Post a Comment