Friendly loveable Squirrels..

[stitchdup]

4 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

I had a squirrel who had his winter stash in a planter that’s part of my deck. When I’m on my computer I sit at the kitchen table with full view of him adding stuff to the planter.

We had a big oak tree that hung over our driveway. It dumped acorns and I had to sweep them up or my wife would slip on them. I had a Home Depot bucket about half full and had a thought.. I dumped them in the planter!  I can imagine my squirrel ? thought he hit the jackpot!

you might just have started squirrels on the road to agriculture. thats nearly the same start humans are belieived to have had except we were burying seeds and grains to store for winter. or it might just be the plot to planet of the apes, lol

[ewetwo]

41 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

I had a squirrel who had his winter stash in a planter that’s part of my deck. When I’m on my computer I sit at the kitchen table with full view of him adding stuff to the planter.

We had a big oak tree that hung over our driveway. It dumped acorns and I had to sweep them up or my wife would slip on them. I had a Home Depot bucket about half full and had a thought.. I dumped them in the planter!  I can imagine my squirrel ? thought he hit the jackpot!

Jackpot! LOL

 

[bobss396]

Some of them forget where they hide the nuts. I come across them in my planters in the spring. Bluejays stash some too.

The only bird I saw open up a peanut was the red shouldered black bird. I'm close-ish to the bay so I get them in rarely. This bird is slick, it holds the nut with one foot and picks it open.

[A modeler named mike]

6 minutes ago, bobss396 said:

Some of them forget where they hide the nuts. I come across them in my planters in the spring. Bluejays stash some too.

The only bird I saw open up a peanut was the red shouldered black bird. I'm close-ish to the bay so I get them in rarely. This bird is slick, it holds the nut with one foot and picks it open.

We have a variety of small and large birds that snatch the peanuts also. The little birds fly in and as fast as they land they've got a nut and takes back off in a blink of an eye. We have crows that come and make a bunch of noise I guess to drive the squirrels away so they can feast too and once in awhile I have the bird pictured who also flys in fast and does a snatch and go. He'll fly over to the split rail fence and hold the nut in his beak and thrashes it against the wood till it breaks open. I've never seen any of the other birds actually eat the nuts.

[bobss396]

The red shouldered black bird is the only one I've seen crack one open. I have a pair of crows that sit on a tall light post behind my house. I back up to an ocean causeway so I get shore birds now and then. The crows carry away as many as 6-7 peanuts at once. The Bluejays, 2 or 3. They size them up so they fit in the gullet.

Usually I have 2 Mourning Doves come by, now I have 10-12 of them at once on some days.

I pick up Bluejay feathers that I find on the grass. I have lately found a couple of small bright yellow ones. They may be an under-feather. I'll have to look them up.

[Tom Geiger]

[iamsuperdan]

[TonyK]

Funny and most likely true.

[Bugatti Fan]

The greys are amusing to watch but unfortunately since being introduced to the UK from across the Atlantic our native red squirrels have been forced out of many of their habitats by the greys.

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 11/16/2023 at 5:46 AM, Bugatti Fan said:

The greys are amusing to watch but unfortunately since being introduced to the UK from across the Atlantic our native red squirrels have been forced out of many of their habitats by the greys.

Time to put a bounty on 'em, I guess.

They really do make good stew.   

                            

Edited November 18, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy

[Bugatti Fan]

Yeah! We have enough of them to use in the pot!

Surprised that celebrity chefs in exclusive London restaurants are not offering them on their menus.     

Help preserve wildlife.      Pickle a Squirrel!

[bobss396]

I was up by Niagara falls at a park... nothing but smaller black squirrels. They were all over the place... like they owned it.

I'm on Long Island, the south shore. The north shore has chipmunks, only this year I finally saw a straggler in my yard. I will have to watch for more of them.

[Bugatti Fan]

I have seen black squirrels in my garden over the last couple of years or so.

I think that they may be mutants of the greys?

[Mark]

The black squirrels are a variation on the Eastern Grey squirrel.  The black ones are claimed to be able to withstand somewhat lower temperatures than the greys.  

[Tom Geiger]

Many years ago when I was still in New Jersey we had a lot of squirrels in our yard.  We had all glass on the back wall of our kitchen and you could watch them run up and down the length of the fence all day long.  My Aussie friends were rather spooked with the "rats" as they called them, and our nonchalant attitude towards squirrels. They estimated there were hundreds of them!

Later we had a very cold winter. There was a squirrel nest way up high in a tree out back.  It got so cold that they chewed their way into my attic straight through an aluminum vent!  We knew they were in the attic because they'd run around over our heads all night long.  I got an exterminator who came and placed a cage on the roof right above the damaged vent.  He told me not to fix the hole until he got them all. He said they were naturally inquisitive  and would investigate the trap. And he was right.

In the course of a week we caught 6 squirrels. Then nothing.  We sealed up the attic.  And the spooky thing was that we didn't see any  squirrels at all on the fence. Not a single one!   So figure that those hundreds of squirrels were these six appearing over and over! 

[Ace-Garageguy]

35 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

... So figure that those hundreds of squirrels were these six appearing over and over! 

But could they juggle?

 

Edited November 29, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy

[A modeler named mike]

Finally.. For the past week I've had a chubby little Grey squirrel that's joined the gang of squirrels that come for peanuts daily. He seems more friendly and less timid than the others. I usually prop the screen door open about a foot so I can toss out a nut to them one at a time. When you get 8 or 9 squirrels together there's bound to be some chasing and bumping going on. When chubby showed up he walked right up to the wooden threshold, sat up and put both front feet up on it then scoped out the bowl of peanuts sitting next to the door. I toss him one and off he went. When he came back I was waiting with a long nut pinched between my fingers. He did exactly the same as before but this time I handed the nut to him. He leaned towards my hand and placed his paw on my finger pulling it towards him as he bite the nut. He let go of my finger and was on his way again. I was flabbergasted.. Than the next squirrel in line also took a nut that I pinched. I guess monkey see monkey do? Definitely the high light of my day! I was able to get some video of him just taking a nut. A bit shakey but I captured it. Next, mixed nuts and an open hand..? here's a screenshot from a video of him.

Edited January 6, 2024 by A modeler named mike
Added a photo

[GLMFAA1]

Years ago I had a squirrel who would knock on the door for his treat. He would hang on the screen door protector and rap on the glass. He would go to the tree and then come down and take his 'Chips Ahoy' cookie from my hand and go to a branch and eat it in spiral bites rotating as it got smaller and smaller. Today I have birds to feed and when I put out peanuts the first visitors after the broadcasting blue jays are the squirrels.

after dinner siesta

greg

Edited January 6, 2024 by GLMFAA1
typo,grammer

[bobss396]

I had 5 of them, now all I see is 3. Names are Tippy (ears are mostly white), Red (lots of red on the underside) and Dorian (looks like a primered model car body).

The one I called Shade is gone. This one had a long tail that acted as an umbrella on rainy days.

[NOBLNG]

On 11/14/2023 at 2:50 PM, iamsuperdan said:

When I was a kid, I cornered one in Dads smokehouse. I grabbed him and he bit me clean through the skin between my thumb and index finger. He wouldn’t let go either…I had to shake him loose.?? Never tried that again!

[A modeler named mike]

More of my little buddies are allowing the hand feeding to happen. Here's a few screenshots from some videos I was able to take of them. Two of the shots are of the same guy coming back for more, he has a spot on his forehead.

[1930fordpickup]

Looking out the kitchen window today. Single diget temps but the sun was out shining brite. 13 fox squirrels were retrieving acorns from the house next door. They can stay there but they won't.  My tree is to old to produce many nuts anymore. There yard is loaded because they jave 2 large oak trees also.  

[ChrisBcritter]

Spotted on a YT video about humorously modified signs:

[OldTrucker]

We live in a 55+ housing that has 4 triplexes. They posted a notice to stop feeding the squirrels. We never have, I still concider they rats with bushy tails.

The lady that lived next door woukd feed them all the time but she recently passed away.

The squirrels would sit on the porch of her emply apartment and jump up and hang on the screen looking in for her really tearing it up.

New lady has moved in and one squirrel would sit on the porch rail and bark at her every time she came out the door and she would shoo it away.

Well last week it was sitting on her rail screeching really loud and when she opened the door to shoo it away it jumped on her and bit her on the cheek and ear! Took me an hour to chase it out of her apartment while my wife treated her wounds.

She went to the doctors office abd got 4 stiches in her ear.

They just seem to get more destructive every year that goes by.

Rarely see red squirrels anymore and that used to be what most were around here.

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[espo]

4 hours ago, OldTrucker said:

We live in a 55+ housing that has 4 triplexes. They posted a notice to stop feeding the squirrels. We never have, I still concider they rats with bushy tails.

The lady that lived next door woukd feed them all the time but she recently passed away.

The squirrels would sit on the porch of her emply apartment and jump up and hang on the screen looking in for her really tearing it up.

New lady has moved in and one squirrel would sit on the porch rail and bark at her every time she came out the door and she would shoo it away.

Well last week it was sitting on her rail screeching really loud and when she opened the door to shoo it away it jumped on her and bit her on the cheek and ear! Took me an hour to chase it out of her apartment while my wife treated her wounds.

She went to the doctors office abd got 4 stiches in her ear.

They just seem to get more destructive every year that goes by.

Rarely see red squirrels anymore and that used to be what most were around here.

 

This may be why you and your neighbors were told not to feed the "Tree Rats". Feeding them makes them think that you're going to do this from then on. They can't comprehend the change of residents and don't understand why they are no longer being feed. As happened with your neighbor they can become aggressive and even attack. About the only thing left to do is make their visits as uncomfortable as possible until they stop coming around. Maybe an old Daisy Red Rider might change their interests.