New Rodents

Yeah, that’s a skunk digging around under the bird feeder. I just saw a squirrel approach it. He didn’t come too close, and then he ran up a tree. Let us hope that squirrels are smart enough to not get sprayed.

Jerk

Untitled, a photo by robj_1971 on Flickr.

Look at that little squirrel S.O.B. stalking up from the background.

It’s bird seed, not squirrel seed. You dick!

Rodent Fights

Right now there are three squirrels and a rabbit at the bird feeders. The rabbit is staying underneath the small feeder and the squirrels are too, mostly. They occasionally struggle their way up a pole and then spend a minute or so eating. I’ve seen them fall off once or twice, and that pleases me.

Sometimes two squirrels get near each other and they wrestle around a bit. Mostly just jumping and swinging their front paws. The best times are when two squirrels go after the rabbit. They run at it from two directions while the bunny jumps straight up in the air and lands right on top of them. Way to go bunny!

Last night as it was getting dark I saw a different rodent hunting around underneath… A skunk. Oh no, what have I done?

The Whole Bird Watching Thing is Out of Control

I can’t stop. I just want to sit out there and wait for the uncooperative birds to come and visit. There’s only two or three who actually come to the feeder, but that doesn’t stop me.

This chipmunk was almost close enough to pet a couple of times. He’d sneak up next to me, see me looking at him, and then run away like his ass was on fire.

I did get a few birds. Just the regular cast of characters.

As I sat there watching the chipmunks hanging around the ground beneath the feeder, and watching the squirrels stalk around the edge of the yard, and watching the birds stay in the trees where they are no good to me, I decided to increase the options available to our wild kingdom friends. I went to the edge of the trees and got the original ~~squirrel~~ bird feeder. I can hang it on one of the flower poles, but only if I keep it less than about half full. So far so good.

Maybe I’ll get lucky and the squirrels will only climb on one feeder and leave the others alone. I’m dreaming, I know.

After the big feeder was up a couple of birds went to the small feeder. No one acknowledged the big one.

Not long before I was ready to call it an afternoon, I had moved the chair away from the house and faced back up the hill. I caught this guy flying up the street. I think it’s a hawk. It sorta looks like it has a red tail, doesn’t it?

But all in all, the winner for this early afternoon is this guy.

Options

Now those jerky little birds have two bird feeder options.

Bird Fail

Once again the birds fail to cooperate. The beetles and chipmunks are playing along, but not the birds.

Birds – Again

I spent some time watching for birds today. I didn’t get any Earth shattering pics, but I did use shutter priority again, so that was good. I played with some lower ISO settings too. I just didn’t have any real moments where the birds played along.

The few birds that visited tended to stay on the other side of the feeder. They were literally screwing with me. The jerks.