Battle of Wits

Mr. Squirrel and I are currently in a battle of wits, and I’m embarrassed to say the rodent is keeping up with me.

For 2 wonderful, peaceful years no critters figured out how to get to my platform bird feeder which sits on a pole 5 feet above the ground. And that pole is protected by 2 squirrel baffles stacked on top of one another.

This guy, however, used special feats of strength to get to feeder from the ground. I watched him jump 4 feet straight up in the air and right over those squirrel baffles. I’ve never seen a jumper like this one before. I have my work cut out for me.

I played around by adding an additional section of pole, and order was briefly restored, but it wasn’t long before he was back on the feeder again, and I had to figure out how he’d thwarted me.

If you’ve ever tried to foil a squirrel then you’ve probably seen them “take measurements” like a tiny engineer. You think you have your new, clever system to stop them, but it’s only a matter of time before they are back walking around the new set-up or contraption, checking it out from all angles and doing difficult math equations in their tiny heads. Sometimes they’ll even stand on their hind legs or climb to a nearby shrub or tree trunk for a better vantage point. Eventually it’s time to put that squirrel math to the test, and the leaping and jumping begins. Most of the time, it’s successful.

The other day I stood in the window and waited for Mr. Squirrel to come back down from the oak tree and do his measurements. It took him about 3 minutes of contemplation and calculations to decide that the extra foot of height now made it possible for him to leap to the feeder from the roof instead of the ground. <sigh>

I really didn’t want to move the pole. It’s been sitting there for years, and it’s the perfect distance from the window to photograph birds but still avoid bird strikes. Instead I took out the extra foot of pole and played around with the baffles to see if I could make it impossible for the squirrel to jump over them from the ground.

This time it took Mr. Squirrel two whole days to figure out how to get back on that feeder. Unfortunately I haven’t yet caught him during a leap, so I don’t know if he’s using a ground attack or an aerial assault.

The battle of wits continues…