I have a theory that the drought has caused all of the birds and critters in the neighborhood to go a little crazy this year. As I type this, there’s a crow chomping on road kill that he carried to my neighbor’s roof. That’s a new one. I’m sure it won’t be long before he flies to one of my birdbaths to dunk the intestines or some other disgusting road kill morsel.
The water wigglers in my birdbaths used to keep the crows away, but I had to remove them weeks ago because the raccoons were destroying them. They used to just pull out the part that spins, and I would have to crawl around on the ground looking for it, but this summer they got even more violent. They started throwing the entire wiggler on the ground so it would come apart and the batteries would pop out. It happened time and time again. They also gnawed off all of the little rubber tips at the bottom of the spinners. I got tired of looking for the various pieces in the lawn and put what was left of my poor wigglers into storage.
The chipmunks are also behaving like little devils. One day I looked out our bay window to see a chipmunk staring at me at eye level. He had climbed a 5-foot-tall lily to eat the flower and seed parts that are left behind after the petals fall off.
When that treat became scarce, he and the other chipmunks began stripping off and eating all of the leaves from my lilies. Lily bulbs draw energy from their leaves and stems as the plants die back. That’s why you’re never supposed to remove more than 2/3 of the stem when cutting the flowers for arrangements. The chipmunks stripped quite a few of my lilies. I won’t know if it killed them until next spring.
I was looking forward to the cooler fall weather so I could finally reseed some of the dead spots in our lawn, but the squirrels are having none of it. I loosen up the soil or add a little topsoil, sprinkle the seed and cover it with straw. Two hours later the area looks like a prairie dog hill.
The squirrels aren’t interested in the seed, it’s the regular watering that’s required to sprout the seed that gets them all excited. There’s FINALLY an area of the lawn that isn’t as hard as a rock. They can’t contain their glee, and use the opportunity to bury every nut and seed they can find.
I could go on, but I have to go outside now and scare away a crow. He’s on the very top of our roof pecking on the metal cap on top of our chimney, and it’s echoing all over the house.
I’m telling you, the animals have all lost their minds…