The War Against Grey Squirrels Over Black Oiled Seeds - Part I

If you've never fed birds seeds then you've missed a real treat in life. There's something about filling a little bin, dish, tube, what-have-you with millet, suet, peanuts, cracked corn, bread, or black oiled sunflower seeds, and then watching the birds flock to your station to eat. Some won't eat seeds. They require fruit and nector, such as hummingbirds and orioles.

Spouse and I began feeding birds when we rented a house on a large island in the waters of Lake Minnetonka, just west of Minneapolis. That was a bird haven, and we had several kinds pass through the hidden yard in which we ultimately had fifteen feeding stations surrounding the house so that no matter which window we look out, we could see birds feeding.

Some never came to the stations, so I wonder why they came. They weren't predatory. I don't think they were. Crows are scavengers, aren't they? But they would come and sit high in the trees at the yard's edge and watch. So did a pileated woodpecker. I had never seen one before. Every spring and every fall about a hundred juncos would hit the yard in force, beginning at one end and walking across to the other, grabbing bugs and such from the yard as they went. Some Northern Flickers would join them.

Probably the most fun to watch were the Cardinals and Orioles. Male cardinals will feed their ladies. It's really cute to watch. We had five pair in the hedges which surrounded the yard. They would take turns coming to the feeder in the mornings and early evenings. The orioles were even more cute. It took me a while to figure out their routine.

Originally, I thought there was a single bird, or maybe a pair. Then, one day, I saw five orioles on our hummingbird feeder at the same time. This was their routine.

We had a crab-apple tree in the center of the yard. There was a large boxelder tree next to the garage, where we had one hummingbird station. There was another hummingbird station next to the front door of the house. The orioles would come in, one at a time, and fly to the apple tree. They would wait about a minute and then fly to the first station and drink. About a minute later they would fly to the second station and drink. A minute later they would fly away. Meanwhile, another bird was following the first, and then a third, fourth and fifth. After the fifth, the first would come back. They had some sort of regular route. I saw them once making the loop on the other side of the street.

Feeding birds was fun. The cardinals preferred the black oiled sunflowers seeds, so we stocked heavily on those. Chickadees, nuthatches and goldfinch liked the mixed set, and blue jays liked the oiled and the cracked corn. We were spending something like twenty-five or thirty dollars every month on seed. And the rabbits were happy, too. They would come out at dusk and eat below the stations.

The bully birds were the red-winged blackbirds and the grackles. Yellow-headed blackbirds were mannerly. The others were not. The blackbirds and grackles came together. And they came en masse. I told Spouse they reminded me of a gang of disruptive teenagers in black leather vests harassing all the decent birds in the area. When the blackbirds and grackles showed up, all other birds left. But at least they were birds. There was another eater of seeds which disrupted the meals we had so carefully set out for our feathered friends.

Squirrels.