![]() Yes, my title pun was intended, for what it’s worth.I’ll actually be proud of him and it’ll still be entertaining. If Bandito turns out to be that smart, I’ll be OK with it. Believe it or not, some squirrels learn to use their nose to push the slinky in front of them as they’re climbing up the pole. Squirrels are smart and incredibly persistent so some of them eventually figure out how to defeat the Slinky, one way or another. So, that’s where the competition stands at the moment between Bandito and the bird photographer. Race across the length of my back yard and climb the largest of my catalpa trees where he always disappears without a trace. This may be the softest photo I’ve ever posted to Feathered Photography but you get the idea. ![]() This is him yesterday morning, eating seed spilled from my feeder.Īlmost immediately he spotted me through the glass and… Shooting through the glass makes my photos soft to very soft but he’s so spooky it’s the best I can do. The only way I can photograph him, if I get very lucky, is through the (dirty) glass of my patio door. So I believe he’s attempted to climb it when I wasn’t watching and given up trying. He’s always been on the ground below it, eating spilled seed. I haven’t yet been lucky enough to see Bandito attempt to climb the Slinky but I keep watching out my windows for it and since I’ve installed the Slinky I’ve never once seen him on the feeder. So far, results are inconclusive but encouraging. Maybe the primary part because I suspect that in the long run I’ll lose this competition. I’ve seen videos of squirrels trying to climb Slinkys and it’s hilarious, so I’ll admit that part of my motivation is my own entertainment. Recently I’ve installed a Slinky on the pole in a probably futile attempt to prevent him from climbing it. Or climbs the back fence and disappears in one of the other trees or bushes. He refuses to appear when I’m in the back yard and if he sees me watching him through my kitchen windows he immediately vamooses up one of my catalpa trees. He climbs the pole, hangs from the feeder, eats his fill (which is a lot) and spills much of the rest of it to the ground. This is the feeder that Bandito considers to be his own personal larder. And perhaps get some entertainment value out of it as a bonus. When Bandito is active at my feeder I have to fill it nearly twice as often, so recently I’ve begun making an attempt to reduce my losses. Yes, this is a shameless plug for my friends at Wild Birds Unlimited – owners Kelli Frame in Salt Lake City and Dan and Barbara Gleason in Eugene, Oregon. It’s a price I’m willing to pay for the birds but it isn’t my intention to feed every stray critter in the neighborhood. ![]() ![]() This bag cost me $44 – normally it’s $52 but I belong to their Daily Saving’s Club so I get it a little cheaper. I buy high quality bird seed at Wild Birds Unlimited by the 20 lb. Until this spring and summer when one of them, a presumed male that I call Bandito, started stealing bird seed from one of my feeders. I began seeing them in my neighborhood and yard several years ago and I thoroughly enjoyed having them around and watching their antics. They were first reported near the Jordan River in Salt Lake City in 2011 and in the intervening years their numbers in northern Utah have increased dramatically. I’ve told you about Bandito before but it’s time you met him, one of the most proficient bird seed thieves in the county.įox squirrels, also known as eastern fox squirrels, are not native to Utah.
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