Soup’s On!

George commented recently that I seemed to be buying quite a bit of bird feed and though I hadn’t thought of it before, I realized I seemed to find myself at the feed store more often lately. A check of the yard for a few mornings told me that we only had our customary feather laden friends – maybe a few more but that’s to be expected with all the spring babies now on their own. Hmmmmmm – what’s afoot???

We only have three feeders and they are for both the birds AND the squirrels. Unlike many others, I don’t chase the squirrels away, but just allow them to co-exist with the birds and they seem to do so wonderfully. Still, the squirrels have been here all along – we usually have between three to five camping out high above our yard. We have tons of sunflower seeds which they plant in each and every potted plant I have and every flower bed boasts a tangle of small sunflowers sprouting through the geraniums if I don’t catch them soon enough. They have quite a ‘green paw’ those little squirrels.

I spent a few days quietly staking out my back yard, more time than normal in the window on sitting quietly on the deck, standing at the screen door and sneaking into the dining room for a peek.

Early morning of the second day produced dramatic results in the form of a masked bandit steathily making his way to the top of one of my feeders:

I quickly rose out of my chair and walked to the edge of the deck to get a closer look. No problem whatsoever to my unexpected visitor who waved a friendly ‘good mornin’ and finished lowering himself onto the feeder, dove into breakfast and then slowly hugged the tree and lowered himself down again. He then marched over to the next diner, climbed the tree and raided that one as well. After satisfying his hearty appetite, he slowly retreated down the tree and I watched the grass sway as he made his way back up to the woods burping every step of the way.

Apparently he stopped in at the barber shop after breakfast and told his friends the buffet was out at our place because a bit later I welcomed another hungry drifter who was a bit annoyed that I didn’t leave him alone to eat in peace. After glaring at me for just a moment he went right back to eating. Why, he never even THOUGHT of playing dead.

I was glad to have my camera ready and was beginning to understand the rising cost of birdseed. We had one of our very sudden PNW showers which quickly chased me inside and I just happened to catch a quick peek out the kitchen window to see another little friend taking cover from the damp…..if you look very closely you can make out the little chimpmunk peering through the haze and right into my eyes as he takes shelter behind the planter.

Jeeeessh! I wonder what I’d find with a night lens!!!!!