July 31, 2008

Squirrelly Miscreants…

A couple of squirrelly miscreants are on the loose.

The furry offenders were spotted shinning up our neighbour’s drainpipe, sidling along their window ledge, and gaining entry to their kitchen through the open window…only to emerge thirty seconds later, eating their spoils. We witnessed this, but were to far away from the house to do anything about it-except post this as a cautionary tale.

We’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again. It’s summer in the Northern hemisphere, where most squirrels live. Summer means open windows, and to a squirrel, even a partially open-window or entry point, means “please come in,” especially if there’s food about near that window. After all, summer is their leanest season, when the stores from last year are running low, but this year’s nuts and berries have not yet come to full fruition. What would you do, in their shoes (or, rather, paws)?

Remember, squirrels don’t understand the law of theft :-).

You can help the situation by distraction feeding them with nuts and seeds left safely outside, (whether in a squirrel feeder or otherwise) and/or, by making sure that any potential squirrel food is left well away from open windows.

Unless of course, you find witnessing squirrelly misdeameanours just too cute anyway ;-). Luckily, this is what our neighbour thought, so this particular tale (or should that be, “tail”) has a happy ending.

More soon.

Tags: squirrel, squirrel feeders, squirrel food, squirrels, summer

Filed under The Squirrel Feed, squirrel facts, squirrel feeders, squirrel food by JustSquirrels

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July 13, 2008

Video of “Cyril the Squirrel”

“Cyril the Squirrel, you may remember, is a grey squirrel we talked about a few posts back, made famous by a UK newspaper for his ability to grab crackers using hanging flower-baskets as a swing. Many do, we know. (And as for the crackers as squirrel food, it’s a new one on us, but this squirrel seems to like it).

Anyway, not contentent with just having his picture taken, the now-famous Cyril, from Darlington UK, now demonstrates his athletic prowess on video, here:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1562587976/bctid1631241554

Enjoy-though be warned, the video contains scenes of impending feeder destruction by this squirrel!

Tags: cute squirrel, grey squirrel, squirrel, Squirrel Video, squirrels, video

Filed under Squirrel Video, The Squirrel Feed, squirrel facts, squirrel feeders, squirrel food by JustSquirrels

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June 26, 2008

Do Squirrels Eat Coconuts?

The question of what squirrels like to eat is one we’re asked here more than any other. On the question of coconut, it can vary from squirrel to squirrel, and country to country (eg. a palm squirrel is more likely to see coconuts more frequently than an Eastern Grey).

Nonetheless, I have often seen grey squirrels spiriting away halves of coconut meant for birds.
They key word here though, may be halves. If the pictures at:

http://10000birds.com/ambitious-squirrel.htm

are anything to go by, it seems that getting into a whole coconut may be beyond even an ingenious squirrel’s reach.

However, if you know differently, please get in touch!

Tags: gray squirrel photo, grey squirrel, squirrel food, squirrel pictures, what do squirrels eat

Filed under The Squirrel Feed, squirrel facts, squirrel food, squirrel pictures by JustSquirrels

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June 6, 2008

Squirrels and Cables: A Mystery

Much as we love squirrels here, the plain fact remains that occasionally they do seem to choose virtual suicide by knawing through power cables.

Sometimes, these can be within the lofts of unfortunate householders. But large instiutions aren’t immune-apparently Los Angeles airport’s air conditioning was taken out recently by a squirrel knawing through cable.

Why do they do this? No-one seems sure, but we’ll continue to dig for a definitive answer. In the meantime, the top three explantions we’ve found are:

1) Neurosis/frustration. (Oh please. In the nineteenth century, people said that about women…We’re not going to insult squirrelly intelligence in the same way).

2) The need to knaw. Squirrel’s teeth, like those of all rodents grow all the time. So, many people believe that the “need to knaw” which this creates (in order to wear their teeth down) makes squirrels partial to the resistance of cables.

3) The most interesting explanation so far is that a mineral-deficient squirrel may smell minerals in a cable, and thus feel compelled to knaw them. For more on this idea (and proof that this problem has been around for many years) see the article at:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,861824,00.html

More on this as soon as we sniff it out ourselves!

Tags: cable, knaw, loft, rodents, squirrel, squirrel teeth, squirrels

Filed under The Squirrel Feed, squirrel facts, squirrel food by JustSquirrels

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May 16, 2008

Squirrel Video: Squirrels Eat Cookies Too!

And it’s back to YouTube for the latest uplifting squirrel video.

Yes, we know that squirrels probably shouldn’t be encouraged to eat cookies or biscuits becaus of the salt/sugar content etc…but this video showing them do just that isn’t half cute!

Enjoy, and please say a big thankyou to youtuber “pineapplefriedrice” as you do so.

Tags: , grey squirrel, squirrel, Squirrel Video, squirrels, what do squirrels eat, what not to feed squirrels

Filed under Squirrel Video, The Squirrel Feed, squirrel food by JustSquirrels

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May 6, 2008

Squirrel Feeders Make Sense (Again)

Squirrel feeders eventually make sense to even those who swore they’d never get one and only wanted to feed the birds.

Or so it would seem from this lovely story (which has ultra-cute pictures of a squirrel squeezing inside a bird-feeder to grab seeds.

http://www.chron.com/commons/persona.html?newspaperUserId=birdwoman&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=birdwoman&plckPostId=Blog%3AbirdwomanPost%3A74392f69-7132-4fe9-ad7a-3508157a36cf&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest

(That link is ling, and may well need cutting and pasting to work. It is worth it though!)
Enjoy!

Tags: grey squirrel pictures, squirrel feeders, squirrel pictures, squirrels on birdfeeders

Filed under The Squirrel Feed, squirrel facts, squirrel feeders, squirrel food, squirrel pictures by JustSquirrels

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April 7, 2008

Squirrel Video: Do Squirrels Remember Nut Positions?

Have you ever wondered whether your squirrels remember the positions of nuts they've buried, or sniff them out afresh each time? I've never been sure, but this informative, scientific (and cute!) video could even affect where you site your next squirrel feeder:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5HffZbeNGkOnce again, enjoy!

Tags: experiment, memory, nuts, squirrel feeder, squirrels

Filed under Squirrel Video, The Squirrel Feed, squirrel facts, squirrel feeders, squirrel food by JustSquirrels

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Squirrel Feeders, Squirrel Food & Squirrel Facts

July 31, 2008

Squirrelly Miscreants…

July 13, 2008

Video of “Cyril the Squirrel”

June 26, 2008

Do Squirrels Eat Coconuts?

June 6, 2008

Squirrels and Cables: A Mystery

May 16, 2008

Squirrel Video: Squirrels Eat Cookies Too!

May 6, 2008

Squirrel Feeders Make Sense (Again)

April 7, 2008

Squirrel Video: Do Squirrels Remember Nut Positions?

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