Where was I? Red squirrels are nasty little beggars. I've had resident squirrels for around ten years. Mother Red squirrel establishes a territory in July and has a litter the next April. Mother squirrel leaves the territory once the litter has become independent. One of her daughters takes over the territory. In other words , every year I get a new female squirrel.
So for the year I have my female squirrel she makes life miserable for me. She helps herself to my bird seed. That's the worst. She drops spruce cones all over the place. Some get very territorial and think that they should chase me away from my house. Some chew holes in things on my yard.
I keep covers in a wooden shed to cover plants when there's danger of frost. One fall I kept seeing bits of blanket spread around. I was too dumb to figure out that the squirrel was entering the shed and taking material to make a nest. To top it off the same squirrel made a nest in the blankets in the shed to have and raise her litter. I accidentally discovered the nest when I went in that part of the shed and a nasty squirrel came out of nowhere and made a fast exit from the shed.
So last week I observed two red squirrels competing for territory. I noticed two squirrels keeping on opposite sides of a tree and then they would chase around the yard. Back to the tree. Same game. Out in the yard and chase some more. Finally one squirrel made it up the tree and out tho the end of a branch. Dumb move! Second squirrel raced to the end of the branch and there was a lightning speed fight. One squirrel fell out of the branch . (15 ft.) At that point the chase ended.
So two females were competing for territory.
Sorry , no photos of this fight.
Now Red squirrels may be cute and interesting to watch but I still hate them. Does anybody want a free Red Squirrel? Do I have any followers left?
Photo by Angela McLean Cormier
I'll trade you for Donald Trump, deal?
ReplyDeleteI'll keep the squirrel. the Donald is way too squirrelly.
DeleteI also am not a lover of squirrels. They are the main reason I stopped feeding the birds on my front porch because I also attracted too many of the rodents! You have not lost me, Red. I'm with you there. :-)
ReplyDeleteYou have to watch everything when squirrels are around.
DeleteMaybe the competition is why I only ever see one red squirrel around here! I thought you were going to tell us that you had squirrels in your house or attic - I can understand having hard feelings over that ... but, Red, everybody's gotta eat!
ReplyDeleteMaybe I could trade you some earwigs for a squirrel?
Luckily I don't have an attic but a cathedral ceiling.
DeleteI don't think that Canadian red squirrels are the same as British red squirrels. Our red squirrels are delightful little creatures. However, I am not at all fond of the marauding North American grey squirrels that have spread across Britain.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you could trap your red squirrels and skin them, secretly stitching together a fur coat for The Micro Manager. It would make a splendid Christmas present for her.
Oh yes! it would be splendid alright. That squirril coat would take how many skins? I think it would keep a few trappers busy for a while.
DeleteI can imagine it feels like a plaque for you.
ReplyDeleteYes, one little rodent can be a big pest.
DeleteAs you have read, Red, I have the same kind of experience with our red squirrels! . They are driving me nuts!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteThey don't give up and they win every time.
DeleteHAHA! This was funny. Send one or two over here. I don't mind them. But only one or two :)
ReplyDeleteThis one would be enough. He beats me everytime.
DeleteI get tired of the squirrels raiding our birdfeeders, and always try to chase them off.
ReplyDeleteRaiding the bird feeders is my number one complaint.
DeleteAs long as they stay out of the house, I'm fine with them.
ReplyDeleteThis one is hanging around the door. I'm afraid one of these times he will come in.
DeleteHa, ha, you told the story well and it brought a chuckle to me though I realize that having this problem is not funny at all. I can imagine watching that battle of the squirrels was rather exciting but I bet I know who had to do the clean up. Have a lovely day Red.
ReplyDeleteI'm still not sure which one is my squirrel.
DeleteI saw a video where a person placed a Slinky at the top of a pole just beneath the bird feeder. The squirrels absolutely couldn't make it past the Slinky without being injured.
ReplyDeleteI've also seen where the post was greased or oiled and the squirrel couldn' climb the pole.
DeleteNot a fan either. Don't much like raccoons or deer either.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have racoons yet and the deer have lot of wild areas although we do have them in town.
DeleteWith squirrels I have often used the phrase, where there's a will there's a way :)
ReplyDeleteHi Red, I will pass on the offer for a squirrel, but I did enjoy this post! :-)
ReplyDeleteRed squirrels have caused us so much grief! They've gotten in the walls of our house three times. But since the barn cats arrived, the squirrels have left. Much more peaceful without them, and they still have plenty of habitat in our woodlot (where our dog Gigi bagged one on walk the other day, ooops! Perhaps I could send her to you for a visit! ;) )
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing ho fast those little #@*!&@'s can figure out how to get to my feeders. I think I finally out squirreled them...at least when I home...
ReplyDeleteWe feel the same about our gophers. Nasty little beggers. We use them for target practice. I can't tell anyone that, though because they have big, dark eyes and a cute little bark. But every rancher knows they dig holes that trap unsuspecting livestock and a broken leg on a cow or a horse is an uber expensive venture.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have squirrels here, possums will sometimes come to live in a house and they can cause some damage just living their quiet life. My parents had a possum in a wall and discovered a hole in the wall long after the possum moved out.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your marauding fiend!
Red Squirrels that come here are dispatched quickly, they are too destructive:(
ReplyDeleteWe have grey ones and they eat or spoil all over fruity plant and therefore my husband hates them .
ReplyDeleteBut I can't "my instinct of Hate is Disabled somsomehow may be"
When he try to run them away I say let them eat we can buy pomegranates from market but they can't
They are smart, and they are cute. However, they cause so much damage if left alone. The squirrels really seemed to like chewing on our spark plug wires. We ended up having to place mothballs on our tires and around the motor to keep them away. I thought it worked pretty well. Right up until the time my neighbor told me he saw a squirrel run out from under my jeep with a moth ball. I don't know if he was kidding me or not, but he insisted that it was true.
ReplyDelete