A Force of Nature

We do get birds in our tiny, town backyard: robins, blue jays, gold finches and others. But that is all during the summer. There is little reason for them to visit in winter. One winter, quite long ago, we tried to entice them with a heated bath, but that didn't draw them. Perhaps it was too close to the house. I don't know.

This year as autumn closed in more and more, we observed a pair of chickadees hanging about. There is a long-standing pole-hanger out back, so we purchased some suet and hung it there.

Lo and behold, it was being consumed.

Sue: I don't see the chickadees when I look, but I know they're there.

Then, we also saw a pair, or the same pair of birds, out front. In an excited state, we went out and purchased a pole-hanger for the front along with more suet.

We rubbed our hands in gleeful anticipation and waited for the cuteness that surely would come to ours.

Then . . . darn it all. ↓

As we watched, we saw a second gray squirrel . . . and then a black . . . and then two youngsters.

This is a neighbourhood where there were no squirrels for all of the years that we've lived here — until very recently. I really only began to notice them this year, and now we saw five of the blasted rodents in our little backyard within a few minutes.

They've since emptied a second suet block, so we will likely desist for now and try again in winter when the squirrels will, hopefully, be hunkered down into their nests. I said, hopefully, but in the core of my being, I do know that the squirrels will win, for they are an unstoppable force of nature.

Meanwhile, in addition to a few extra suet blocks, we have that brand, spanking-new hanger out front. The squirrels haven't got to it yet. but neither have the chickadees.