This morning Mr. Squirrel was caught raiding seeds from the feeder.

We've suspected this from the claw marks on the top of the feeder, and, honestly, he'd have to be pretty stupid not to have figured out that the lid doesn't have any sort of catch and doesn't screw on; it just pops off. But we've never actually caught him at it; he's never been brazen enough to sit there balancing on the "limb" of the feeder reaching in while we are eating breakfast.

He's also smart enough to realize that we can't do much about it. By the time I open the door to let Willow out on the porch to bark at him, he's whisked his tail and scampered down the post of the deck to wait on the ground for us to return inside. He already knows that she (or we) can't get down there after him since there is no stair on the deck; where Willow's barking used to send him back into the woods, he just looks bored and grazes on the seed the birds have dropped.

Yesterday I saw the defiant little pee mark he left on top of the metal seed container, so I should have known he was going for open warfare this morning. I returned the gesture: after the second time Wil and I shoo'd him away, I marched outside with the container of cayenne and lined the top of the seed with it, and, since the top was still wet with dew, sprinkled cayenne on the top as well.

When he came back up the third time I caught him sitting on the rail, glaring balefully at me.

Nyahhh!

Labels: birds, squirrel

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:34:00 AM

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