The Buckets by Greg Cravens for March 08, 2021

Here is a solution feed them both?

We put out the seed

Whatever shows up is wildlife for us to enjoy and entertainment for the cats

The cats are indoor only, we aren’t sure if they even know outside is real or if they think it’s Cat TV

Furry-tailed Tree Rats.

Squirrel Solution – it’s fun watching them trying to get food out before the doors close. The fatter they are, the faster the closing.

It’s hopeless to keep squirrels away from the bird feeders. Mine are metal and they are all bent up, but I figure the squirrels are hungry too. (sigh)

Ugh. My mother had bird feeders in the backyard. Then my beagle decided he liked bird seed and would swat at it with his paws to try and get some. So she moved it. Then the squirrels moved in…

Welcome to the Bird Feeder/Squirrel Feeder series of cartoons based on our latest adventure. It resulted in a great deal of measurements being taken, about a quarter of a Crepe Myrtle tree being sacrificed, A lot of repair done to what used to be a nice wooden feeder, a game camera borrowed and used and its video studied carefully, and a lot of looking out the windows and shouting things like “Get the Saw! That big ^%$# with half a tail is still able to jump from that dark limb halfway up the tree!”

Also, the raccoons were actually easier to restrict than the squirrels were, if you’re interested. But we hadda buy a bulkier pole to hang the feeders from, ‘cause a raccoon will just bend that silly thing to the ground if there’s a double handful of seeds to be had.

Squirrels don’t love safflower seeds; they’ll eat the ones that fall if they’re hungry enough, but they won’t go climbing for them. On the other hand, you get fewer bird species if that’s all you put out and a whole lot of mess from the shells and I ruined the runners on my sliding glass door by tracking too many of the shell pieces in. Good luck! Oh and: never put out birdseed with millet in it. They’re the favorite food of non-native house sparrows and will attract them into taking over, and during nesting season they put their beaks through the skulls and shells of every nesting songbird and egg in whatever they perceive as their territory. They are relentlessly murderous and have decimated other species. No millet.

Air rifle, followed by fried squirrel.

I understand that adding chili flakes to the feed discourages squirrels but doesn’t bother birds