Rose, but did you notice how many acorns there were last year? It was bizarre, there were literally tons of them, I've never seen anything like it. Raking my mother's lawn on Long Island was like shoveling concrete.

And it's true this year there were virtually none.

Nemo

It's an Acorn Recession.

Feeding squirrels, what to feed them

It seems that raw peanuts are very harmful for squirrels. Real nuts (peanuts aren't nuts) are the way to go.

lol lo!

BTW if anyone is wondering or remembers, I'm well aware I've told the squirrel bits before. It's just too much to resist.

And while I once, no doubt thanks to the dancers in Oklahoma!, totally identified with the ranchers, I now see my rancher identity as one that emerges when I leave the city. The best non-human species in the city are the dogs and the hawks! I especially hope the latter continue to multiply and circle above the parks. [Maybe that's where the squirrels went.]

[This message has been edited by Terese Coe (edited December 01, 2008).]

"(most especially) the little squirrel with no tail..."

Lo, that's a rat.

Funny that this should be a topic on Eratosphere, when it's also a hot topic with my neighbor across the street, who keeps shrieking at me for having several non-squirrelproof bird feeders in my yard--she says that my squirrels are going to chew through the wiring in her attic and burn her house down. But won't they be more likely to cross the street to her side if I STOP feeding them "Gourmet Mix" doctored with extra sunflower seeds? (I confess to having bought them corn cobs a few times, as well.) And mightn't the four giant pecan trees in my yard be even more enticing to the little furbags than storebought chow? (Though it's a bad year for pecans as well as acorns.) From time to time I think of replacing my current feeders with the squirrelproof kind, just for the sake of neighborly peace, but then I watch one of them leap four feet into the air; land about a foot from the top of the pole that the feeder dangles from, clutching it for dear life; shinny the rest of the way up the pole the way I used to climb ropes in high school gym class; tightrope-walk out on the metal arm that extends from the pole; and then dangle upside down like an opossum to munch from the feeder. Anything that will work that hard for food definitely deserves it.

Originally posted by R. Nemo Hill:

Rose, but did you notice how many acorns there were last year? It was bizarre, there were literally tons of them, I've never seen anything like it.

Same here in Mass, Nemo. I found myself flinching and almost bought a helmet. My driveway was an acorn grinder.

This year, nada.

Bob

Edited to spell "Bob."

It's not that I'm all that nuts about squirrels, but starving to death is a bad way to go.

The first time that I saw a squirrel float over the canopy of trees I thought my heart would stop. That was in England. Since then I've seen red and grey in England and America.

They earn their food.

I once saw an A&E documentary on squirrels and the people who tried to keep them out of bird feeders. One man had built a device that was extremely complicated, with strings and pulleys, etc. It would have kept anyone else out of the bird feeder, but the squirrels figured it out in no time.

There was also a squirrel who, every day, visited a particular vending machine, climbed into the drop chute, stuck its paw in, did a little wiggle dance, got its candy bar, and took off with it.