Have you ever wondered "How in the world do I keep the squirrels from emptying out our birdfeeders?" It's a common problem that so many of us have while trying to feed our fine feathered friends. We spend all kinds of money adding seed to the feeders to feed the birds only to have it thrown all around on the ground by gray and brown furry acrobats! It doesn't matter how high your feeder is squirrels are not acrophobes and have an uncanny ability to get into things they shouldn't or we think they couldn't! Today I found the solution! And to make it all even better it is 100% all natural!
I call it the Predator Squirrel Preventer! Or PSP 1.0 for short.
It's low maintenance, takes care of itself, and is nothing short of fascinating to watch swooping through the yard after it's prey! Obviously the first part of this post is just silly but today I was looking outside the window when I saw the hawk fly across the yard and grasp something in its talons and land in these branches. I couldn't see what it was the hawk picked up only that it appeared larger than most of the birds around here and gray. I ran to get my 200mm lens to see what it really was and found the picture you see in this post. Our hawk friend sat there for several minutes waiting while I snapped pictures. Don't blame the hawk for capturing this squirrel in fact you might blame the person who let their two dogs run loose in our neighborhood today. They were out and about chasing rabbits and squirrels and this unlucky squirrel ran across our yard to try to escape them while the hawk took the opportunity to find lunch.
The squirrels usually don't visit our feeders often but they have in the past. When they do I stop feeding the birds for a few days and the squirrels go away, for a little while at least. This is a different hawk than the Sharp-shinned hawk I saw other day, it's much larger and the tails are different. The hawk is probably a red tailed hawk which is very common. Although it may seem strange to some I think that it's fascinating to watch nature take its course!
Have you seen anything fascinating with wildlife recently?