CARDINALS

For a few years, we've watched the birds at our back yard feeder. We saw a cardinal couple raise a baby last year and once again this year, they have a baby tagging along with them to the feeder.

I've read that the male feeds the female when they're courting, but I've seen them both feeding the baby, coaxing it up to the feeder.

Here's the daddy at the feeder:

Here are the mother and child:

And this is the squirrel who lurks in the background. He desperately wants to eat, but when he gets on it, his weight pulls the sides down and covers the openings. I see him every day, staring at the feeder as if he's trying to figure out how to get to the seeds. Then he'll shake his tail in frustration and leave!

This squirrel-proof feeder has been a good investment!

VISITORS

We've had visitors for several days, including the Fourth of July, and hope to have more in the next week or two. Since we've been busy with them, we've just now got around to getting more food for Mr. Piggy.

Yep, Mr. Piggy. The squirrel who tried to take over the bird feeder.

Our new feeder seems to be keeping him out though. The cardinals and some others are back to eating at it, but I don't think they like the landing posts as much as the tray on the old one. I had to take these pix through glass so they aren't too sharp, but here's the female cardinal at the new one.

Mr. Piggy tried eating from it, but it slides down and covers the feed holes when he puts any weight on it. He was quite frustrated.

So we're leaving the old one up for him. He can eat and strew seeds to his heart's content.

SQUIRREL AND BIRD FEEDER

Our bird feeder has been great for enticing blue jays, cardinals, and other birds. It has also attracted a tree rat.

Mr. Piggy, as we've nicknamed him, has been eating way more than his due. And what he doesn't eat, he throws around on the ground. On occasion, he's even brought a friend to party with him.

Here he's getting to the food.

Here he's had his fill.

Mr. Piggy may be a cute little thing, but we have invested in a new bird feeder. This one has a covering. When a weighty object like Mr. Piggy jumps onto the feeding tray, the plastic cover slides down and blocks the openings to the seed.

I'll let you know how it works.

NOSY SQUIRREL

We must now contend with a squirrel at our bird feeder. He looks young, and eats up all the seed.

Yes, he's cute. But we had these critters up in north Georgia and they made a mess of our house. They nibbled holes in the sides and tore a vent (with wooden slats across it) to pieces. They'd get in the attic and party. My guy had to put up steel wire to keep them out.

He doesn't intend that to happen here so he got cayenne pepper, which is supposed to deter squirrels but not hurt birds. He mixed it with the seed and poured some on the feeder ledge.

Seems as long as the pepper's on the ledge, the pesky rascal will stay off. But in a couple of days, he's back to his old tricks.

This morning when I glanced at the feeder, the squirrel wasn't on it. He was at our sliding patio doors, bumping into the glass trying to get inside. Then he started picking at the screen, doubtless hoping that would get him somewhere.

I ran over and fussed at him.

He stared at me, unmoving.

I made as if to open the door.

He stared at me, unmoving.

I unlatched the door just as I remembered the rabid fox who bit a man in town a couple of days ago. Was this squirrel rabid? Would he pounce on me?

He stared at me, unmoving.

My hand (which didn't keep up with my brain screaming "Don't do it! Don't do it! He'll bite you! You'll have to have shots!) was already sliding the door back.

The little critter started ambling off.

Whew! Not rabid.

I yelled and went after him. He thudded into the fence trying to get out.

He moves a lot faster than my cats.

FERAL CATS

Turns out the reason the squirrel population isn't so much in this neighborhood is the feral cats. They're gorgeous, all of them, but still wild. I think one we saw prowling through our back (fenced-in) and tiny yard before we made the move was feral.

Seems like there wouldn't be as many birds, but guess they're more observant than the squirrels. I was following my guy out of the neighborhood yesterday morning, he off to his art class and me off to hit yard sales. He braked in front of me and waited. I thought he'd forgotten to tell me something and would get out, but no. He kept sitting there in his car. Then I saw a sleek black cat crouched just to the side as if stalking something. In a moment the cat darted across the street and my guy went on.

I started to go, too, but noticed the cat slinking behind a tree, still stalking. Just as I rounded the tree - one of the huge water oaks we have here - the cat pounced on a squirrel who'd been sitting on the ground. The squirrel tried desperately to get away, leaping in the air and thrashing around, but the cat clung to him determinedly. I was in shock, the car advancing automatically so I never saw what happened. But I'm pretty sure the squirrel got gone.

Awful to witness a murder first thing in the morning. And yes, I know the cat was hungry and this is nature and all that. But still...Right before my eyes?

Local News

It's so nice to live in a small town. Headline in the local paper: ALBINO SQUIRREL CAUSES A STIR.

There's even a picture of the perky little critter holding a nut.

Yes, there's a crime blotter inside that has interesting stuff, too. (MAN HITS WOMAN WITH DIAPER) But how great is it to live in a place where albino squirrels land on the front page of the paper?