Stupid Squirrels

Before talking about the new sights we saw on our way back to Texas, I wanted to provide an update on the wildlife in our backyard.

When we returned home, not surprisingly both bird feeders were empty.  We filled them and the birds quickly returned.  We also added our new feature, hanging corn for the local squirrel population.

Ten pounds of corn from Home Depot

Corn attached and ready to be hung

We used the hanger already in place for the hummingbird feeder, since that is only needed during the heat of the summer. 

Temporary location using existing hanger on patio roof.  This is with original amount of chain, hung to maximum length.

Unfortunately, the weather was cold and rainy so we did not see any squirrels.  We assumed they were hiding someplace trying to stay warm and dry.  Even when one finally did venture onto the patio for water (one of the few days in this stretch when the water was not frozen), the squirrel did not seem to notice the corn.  As per the instructions, we added more chain to lower the corn to a height of about 1 foot and added peanut butter.

This seemed like a good use for peanut butter that was past its freshness date, but had never been opened and seemed fine.  Perhaps our squirrels prefer chunky rather than creamy?!

We still did not see any squirrels, probably because the weather continued to be a major deterrent to them being outside much at all.  However, we did notice one morning that the peanut butter was completely removed, although (except for a couple of kernels on the ground) the corn remained untouched.

I continued to replace the peanut butter and it continued to disappear at night.  Hmmm...squirrels are not nocturnal animals.  Who is eating the peanut butter?

Eating breakfast yesterday morning at about 6:20 am (when it was still totally dark) we saw this when we went to investigate what had triggered the motion detector light.

The pictures are very poor due to trying to hold my iphone steady in such very low light without a flash because it was through the patio door.  However, it is still clear enough to see that it is the "baby" opossum we had seen a month ago.  I noticed earlier when Alex had gone out that the peanut butter was already gone before the opossum arrived.  I don't know if he had been around earlier or if some other nocturnal animal had been helping himself to some of the backyard smorgasbord.  The weather is to be warmer later in the week.  Hopefully some of our mentally challenged squirrels will be out and about and find the corn.