Mon 30 Oct 2006
The clip below features the bag feeder again, being relieved of the very last few of today’s nuts. The feeder no longer presents any kind of challenge to the squirrels, who emptied the bag by lunchtime.
This post, as well as the pictures and video from it are © 2006 Chris Osborne, originally published on The Backyard Voyeur. The “Pillow Feeder” is his feeder project based on my (Zach Glenwright’s) Backyard Bag Feeder Project…
Another Bag Feeder clip, 10-30-06 [2:07m]:
October 30th, 2006 at 7:49 pm
Nice… they’ve mastered it! (Are you getting tired of doing it yet, or are you going to keep with it? I wonder if fruits like bananas, apples and grapes would bring other kinds of animals — I tried it back in July with some grapes and apple slices and the squirrels wouldn’t touch it, but I got an interested catbird or 2 that checked it out, especially the grapes - one of the catbirds even slammed the grape into the mic…) It would be nice if the birds would try, but I think the squirrels claim it as theirs now - “it’s mine! You can’t have it!!”
I was watching later in the night and I saw the same thing, but there were at least 5 squirrels in the shot - very cool — there was one on the tray feeder (is that the thing that swings above the pumpkin?), one in the pumpkin, one to the side, one on the “bag feeder” and one looking at that one - very cool to see so much squirrel activity at once! I thought I saw a bird or 2 (it looked like a bluejay, or at least bluejay sized) trying to get into the action also, but the squirrels took care of that…
I’ve actually seen a squirrel sitting on my project go run and pounce on a bird at the waterdish, so maybe that’s why the birds don’t come to your “bag feeder” - the squirrels rule the turf!
October 30th, 2006 at 9:21 pm
Five squirrels in the shot and I missed it … typical
but it goes to show the attraction of live cams, you never know your luck. The thing swinging above the pumpkin is actually a garden swing, which is placed carefully near the tray and cage feeders to provide the squirrels with a rope to run down.
I have tried putting grapes out before but unsuccessfully, nobody, squirrels or birds, took any interest in them at all. Likewise with apple halves. Maybe I can try a grape or two in this feeder later on and see if they get interested this time.
The bird you saw would almost certainly be a Western Scrub Jay, which looks very similar to a bluejay but is the local variety. We had a couple move into the yard a few weeks back and they are becoming more commonplace at the feeders now.
October 31st, 2006 at 2:02 am
Hopefully they will - I know the squirrels aren’t that much into the fruit, but the catbirds really seemed to like it! And I thought that looked Jay-ish, but not radiant enough to be a bluejay (I think we had that conversation awhile ago on a picture that was also a Western Scrub Jay and you corrected me then… :))