Please send them to my house. I have rescued baby squirrels and took them back after the wildlife rehab got them ready for release. They are among the smartest and most delightful creatures that are often the only wildlife we city kids ever got to see.
Not sure an abundance of cayenne is the best thing for their tummies.
A nice surprise today. They have learned to use the suet post. The skwurlz cannot get to it and the birds are just content to sit back and laugh at them. So far, Carolina wrens, nuthatches, a red-bellied woodpecker, and downy woodpeckers have visited. I do need to make a bigger one though. The top needs to be cut like a pyramid so starlings cannot stand on it and the suet plugs have to be further down from the top. A couple of starlings are able to briefly perch and reach down for the top holes.
A nice surprise today. They have learned to use the suet post. The skwurlz cannot get to it and the birds are just content to sit back and laugh at them. So far, Carolina wrens, nuthatches, a red-bellied woodpecker, and downy woodpeckers have visited. I do need to make a bigger one though. The top needs to be cut like a pyramid so starlings cannot stand on it and the suet plugs have to be further down from the top. A couple of starlings are able to briefly perch and reach down for the top holes.
Coincidently I just put out the suet cake. Been saving it for chilly weather.This is the most creative squirrel I've seen at my feeder. Pulled up the plastic window and sat enclosed in the feeder. The sparrow watched him in dismay.
The Field Guide tells me the bird on the left is a Red Breasted Nuthatch - don't remember seeing one of those before! (apologies for the blurry picture, had to take it through the none-too-sparkling kitchen window). Taken this morning
The Field Guide tells me the bird on the left is a Red Breasted Nuthatch - don't remember seeing one of those before! (apologies for the blurry picture, had to take it through the none-too-sparkling kitchen window). Taken this morning
Yes I had one of these cuties at my feeder a couple of years ago. Here's one of the pics.
I love that pic of the nuthatch. I've started to gather some nuthatch fans of my own but they're of the white-breasted persuasion. I've been seeing a Carolina wren regularly at the suet feeders I've been puttering around with. Here is my latest one with Frankie getting in a nice peaceful snack. It was pouring today but underneath this thing the weather is fine.
I do like making this stuff. If anyone would like to make requests I can see what I can do. It's a way to help get rid of scrap wood and odds & ends. ;-)
These units are fully aflame in only a few minutes. Eric did very well to keep calling and screeching until Anton roused then responded properly to grab his bag and bird.
I do like making this stuff. If anyone would like to make requests I can see what I can do. It's a way to help get rid of scrap wood and odds & ends. ;-)
Well, with half the cat women in the state scrambling to make feral cat shelters, you could design a card, Have Jigsaw Will Travel!.
Had a friend cut 20 holes in these. Next we fill with insulation then straw and help our neighbors in Irvington with small TNR colonies and no shelter.
We can’t take a pic because that’ll disturb it, and it’ll fly away - a little pied cormorant is perched right under our deck, on the wooden support for the bank! Startling white feathers at tips of wings, emerald green eyes. Very very strong, long feet.
We can’t take a pic because that’ll disturb it, and it’ll fly away - a little pied cormorant is perched right under our deck, on the wooden support for the bank! Startling white feathers at tips of wings, emerald green eyes. Very very strong, long feet.
Ours is a little more black in the face Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between the Pied and the Little Cormorants around here; I usually try to balance out the face and ‘tuxedo’ effect. They’re much slimmer, sleeker than the sample looks - that one’s a little fluffed in the breeze.
My sister rang me this morning, excited to say ‘they’ve flown! All three girls have flown! I saw them! They’re so strong!’ You could almost swear she’s their grandmother )
So, yep, the peregrine falcon chicks hatched on a high window ledge outside a Melbourne office window during the covid-19 lockdown have survived (unlike last year’s hatchlings) and finally had their first flight:
Great shots. My suet cakes are attached to the sides of my feeder. I even have to use a twist tie to stop the squirrels from opening the little cage and running off with the whole suet cake. When I hung them loose like yours, they unhooked them and took them to their homes in the trees.
My sister rang me this morning, excited to say ‘they’ve flown! All three girls have flown! I saw them! They’re so strong!’ You could almost swear she’s their grandmother )
So, yep, the peregrine falcon chicks hatched on a high window ledge outside a Melbourne office window during the covid-19 lockdown have survived (unlike last year’s hatchlings) and finally had their first flight:
Great shots. My suet cakes are attached to the sides of my feeder. I even have to use a twist tie to stop the squirrels from opening the little cage and running off with the whole suet cake. When I hung them loose like yours, they unhooked them and took them to their homes in the trees.
NOT A BIRD: last night, we found a bright green ‘dainty green tree frog’ in our bedroom! We’re used to seeing and hearing skinks around our walls and ceilings, but this was bigger was hopping quickly around the floor and under the bed...just as surprised as we were. Managed to pop a plastic container over it then slide the lid under, take it to the garden and set it free. (pic from Brisbane frogs website)
SWAN Family Update: well, it’s finally happened. Papa Swan has decided Junior (the sole surviving cygnet of the last, out-of-season hatchlings) is now an Intruding Male and a Lazy Bag-of-Bones Useless Offspring ‘who needs a job anywhere but here’. Up until today he seemed to get along quite well with Junior, letting him set the day’s program and determine where they’d stop and find food etc. Mama and Junior would groom each other, Papa and Junior would warn the other water fowl away and generally everyone just seemed to be waiting for Junior to become fully dark-winged. This evening, Papa wouldn’t let Junior anywhere near him or Mama and was actively chasing Junior out of the lake (forcing him to fly). Uhoh. Time to say goodbye? One very confused cygnet...
Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between the Pied and the Little Cormorants around here; I usually try to balance out the face and ‘tuxedo’ effect. They’re much slimmer, sleeker than the sample looks - that one’s a little fluffed in the breeze. 
Please send them to my house. I have rescued baby squirrels and took them back after the wildlife rehab got them ready for release. They are among the smartest and most delightful creatures that are often the only wildlife we city kids ever got to see.
Not sure an abundance of cayenne is the best thing for their tummies.