Two squirrels were chasing each other around and around the trunk of a large green ash. They continued this torrid pace for at least two minutes. I was expecting them to quit from exhaustion. I found out that they had a very high level of fitness.
Now my interest in watching the chase was to see how it ended. Was there going to be big squirrel dust up? Was one squirrel going to escape? Would it end up in a draw?
Well it ended in a draw. One squirrel ran into the upper branches and the other squirrel did not pursue.
Red squirrels are very territorial. Usually they just chatter at one another. You hear the chattering going on and again you wonder when they will be out of breath.
So the territorial squirrels can get very physical in claiming their territory.
I wish these characters would chase each other far away. They are a nuisance at my bird feeders.
How about you? Have you seen squirrel fights? How do you control squirrels at you bird feeders?
the fox squirrels camp out in my yard. sometimes i have 5 or 6 at once dining from the bird feeders and under them.
ReplyDeleteI hope your fox squirrels are better behaved than my red squirrels.
DeleteSquirrel territorial fights are nothing compared to ones us humans have. Checkout my squirrel feeder... http://eycandy.blogspot.ca/2010/12/hungry-squirrel.html
ReplyDeleteYou've got that one right and we have bigger weapons.
DeleteWhen I had bird feeders, squirrels drove me crazy. They are still around, but they don't bother me any more. I didn't realize they are so territorial. :-)
ReplyDeleteI think with squirrels you have to join them. You can't win.
DeleteWe only have the little red squirrel and actually, while reading your post I heard a noise, went to investigate and one squirrel was inside the house! I don't know how it got in but after removing a screen from a window he quickly left.
ReplyDeleteCheck your house. there must be an entry some place.
DeleteI love squirrels. When I had a large back yard I fed everybody and put squirrel nesting boxes in the trees. That does' work well when a patio is all the space you have. Squirrels are destructive when they play and scamper among your plants & patio furniture. Solution: remove all feeders. Of course everybody goes away then. I know of no good solution.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the possibility of squirrels entering your attic.
DeleteI just buy more food for them. I keep an ear of corn with a lag bolt in the end attached to a piece of wire and enjoy their acrobatic eating.
ReplyDeleteI will have to try the corn thing.
DeleteI don't feed birds because I don't want them to become dependent on me and starve if I'm not around. But I know many people who do enjoy feeding them.
ReplyDeleteBirds will quickly adapt if you stop feeding. The odd time something that should migrate hangs around and that's not good.
DeleteThe town removed my two big silver maples, so I have only two squirrels left. They do get mean to each other.
ReplyDeleteI first met silver maples when I visited my daughter in Chicago. We don't have them in Alberta.
DeleteThey are entertaining to watch but squirrels are never content to just eat their share and then be off. I have yet to find a feeder they can't destroy eventually with their chewing. No solution here. They have outsmarted me every tim so far!
ReplyDeleteThey will outsmart me too but I like to give them a rough time.
DeleteWe don't have squirrels here but I clearly remember how fascinated I was by them when I visited Canada. I watched them for hours and took hundreds of photos of them.
ReplyDeleteHey, did you get a chance to watch beavers? My NZ friends came back ten years later and I asked them what they wanted to see. they wanted to see the beavers again.
DeleteI don't see too many squirrel fights in my backyard even when I put out food for the birds. They seem to keep a reasonable distance from each other. I used to try and come up with ways to discourage the squirrels from eating the bird seed. But I gave up a long time ago. Now it's first come, first served!
ReplyDeleteWise move to give up on the squirrels. They never give up.
DeleteMy brother used to get mad when he saw squirrels at the bird feeder
ReplyDeleteThere are too many squirrel lovers out there in blogger land for me to tell ou how I really feel about these rats with bushy tails.
ReplyDeleteWe use the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach with squirrels. Rather than trying to keep them away, we just put food out for them. They can be funny if you can bring yourself to overlook the damage they cause to garden plants and that kind of thing. (And fortunately, when Olga starts running around the yard they vanish pretty quickly!)
ReplyDeleteI have a friend name Dennis. He got bitten from the red squirrels. They are nasty, nasty.
ReplyDeleteI visited a friend and the red squirrel came in and ran all through the house. Finally she got it out.
In England our native red squirrels have been overwhelmed by North American grey squirrels. Which idiot introduced them? Probably Donald Trump. I have spotted a squirrel in our garden but quite infrequently so mostly the bird food is eaten by birds. However, this evening I spotted a young fox on our lawn - eating bread I had thrown on the lawn earlier.
ReplyDeleteThe squirrels need to feed, too! That's what I think!
ReplyDeleteYes I've seen and its almost always end in a cease fire. Perhaps we should send a few to the Middle East....
ReplyDeleteNo fights, but I have seen them hopping around out in the trees, playing. Now my hummers...they are getting crazy! I have never seen them act so bad...mean, actually! Slamming into each other, knocking one another off the feeders...I want to give them a what for speech and I ask them daily...does your mama know you are out here acting a fool? LOL! Have a great day Red!
ReplyDeleteI have watched them chase each other with regularity.
ReplyDeleteI have seen them chasing each other, and I have seen the tails quivering when they have been very agitated. I remember the first time I actually heard them going on at each other and couldn't figure what on earth it was. I thought at first it was an angry bird, then I realized it was a squirrel. I haven't actually seen a fight but a lot of chewed up ears and an occasional gouge out of one's side. I never realized they were that feisty either but no better these days. Thanks for stopping by and leaving such a kind comment on my recent post Red, I appreciated it very much.
ReplyDeleteWe have a regular Gray Squirrel Circus at our feeders. Red Squirrels can be really damaging they will eat wiring and insulation...we don't have any right now but they will be disbatched to squirrel heaven if they show up. :)
ReplyDelete