This used to be a really cute bird feeder -- it looked like a little chapel. My MIL bought it for me this summer when she was here visiting. This past spring we had a lot of visits from bears and I lost quite a few feeders. Things calmed down in the summer once the berry supply was plentiful. I knew it was time to start taking the feeder in at night again. I've been telling everyone that, but did I listen to myself? Nope. Now look at it. At our house in California, we had a variety of wildlife come through. There was a raccoon family that used to drink from our pool. They would leave the funniest looking little muddy pawprints on the edge of the pool. We also had opossums nearly every night, which is something that's not native to Montana. There was the occasional coyote, mostly in the river bottom behind our house, and other critters. We even had a few bears roam by, though I never saw them personally. At our house in Montana, the critters don't always sneak by late at night. Sometimes they wander around in broad daylight. We've seen bears, deer, moose, and we've heard there's even a mountain lion that lives in the area, but I have yet to see him. I'm not sure when this particular feeder was destroyed, but I did hear the neighbor's dog barking the other morning when I was getting dressed. I know better, but for whatever reason, I didn't go check it out like usual. So now I have a busted up bird feeder and a couple of hungry squirrels who aren't going to be happy if I don't replace it soon. What type of wildlife do you get?
Friday, October 24, 2008
I'll never learn ...
This used to be a really cute bird feeder -- it looked like a little chapel. My MIL bought it for me this summer when she was here visiting. This past spring we had a lot of visits from bears and I lost quite a few feeders. Things calmed down in the summer once the berry supply was plentiful. I knew it was time to start taking the feeder in at night again. I've been telling everyone that, but did I listen to myself? Nope. Now look at it. At our house in California, we had a variety of wildlife come through. There was a raccoon family that used to drink from our pool. They would leave the funniest looking little muddy pawprints on the edge of the pool. We also had opossums nearly every night, which is something that's not native to Montana. There was the occasional coyote, mostly in the river bottom behind our house, and other critters. We even had a few bears roam by, though I never saw them personally. At our house in Montana, the critters don't always sneak by late at night. Sometimes they wander around in broad daylight. We've seen bears, deer, moose, and we've heard there's even a mountain lion that lives in the area, but I have yet to see him. I'm not sure when this particular feeder was destroyed, but I did hear the neighbor's dog barking the other morning when I was getting dressed. I know better, but for whatever reason, I didn't go check it out like usual. So now I have a busted up bird feeder and a couple of hungry squirrels who aren't going to be happy if I don't replace it soon. What type of wildlife do you get?
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Oh, no! The birdfeeder :(
ReplyDeleteWe don't get much wildlife here. We have lots of deer, but I don't see them often, just their remains :(
In our neghboorhood all you see is squirrels, chipmunks and bunnies, with the occasional fox.
Back in Rio, we had little monkeys in the trees (tamarinds) just like we have squirrels here. Even though it's a big urban city, you can still find them in neighborhoods where you have lots of trees. Oh, they love gumdrops and will come to pick them up from your hand. I will have to find a few pictures to post.
I recently heard someone talking about mixing in hot pepper with bird feed to keep squirrels away from bird feeders (because birds don't have taste buds and squirrels do) I wonder if the same trick would work to keep bears away? You never know. If you still don't "want to learn" maybe you can try that trick next time.
ReplyDeleteI'm in a more urban area so I don't get much more wildlife than an occasional deer and bats and household pets that have wandered away from home. One time there was a possom in our back yard. I thought he was dead, and then I realized where the term "playing possum" came from. They really do a good job of looking dead!
Every bird feeder I put up becomes a rat feeder. Not charming! We've had possums and skunks under the deck and tons of lizards in our yard. We also have bunnies, coyotes, turkey vultures, rattlesnakes...and mountain lions have occasionally been spotted in the area (thankfully not in our neighborhood!)
ReplyDeleteToo bad for your feeders - they are not cheap, either!
Ooops again! I took this picture the day before yesterday, and being the bum I am, I haven't picked up the feeder yet. I went outside this morning and everything is totally rearranged. Either the bear was back or the deer gave it a good kick around. I guess I better clean it up today.
ReplyDeleteRenata -- I bet that was fun having little monkeys all over the place. I don't mind the squirrels too much. They make me laugh most of the time. Somewhere in this blog is a post called "Nips the Squirrel" who seems to hang around the most.
Christy -- I've never heard of using pepper in a feeder, just the bear spray that's sold all over here. It's basically pepper spray. The only way to keep them from checking out the feeder is to remove it. I know better, but what can I say other than I'm an idiot. LOL!
Adrienne -- Now I don't normally like rats, but I would love to see a few just for photo sakes right now. My upcoming picture book is about a little rat named Dilly. I could always use rat pictures, but I'm not sure if I want them hanging around that much. Nips would probably take them out. She doesn't share too well ...
Dang, that bear really worked it over, eh? Bummer.
ReplyDeleteAs for me, just house finches and some slightly larger birds that I don't know the name of, but have seen before.
Gale
Wow! Sorry about your feeder, but you have some cool wildlife visitors! That happened at my dad's cabin once in northern Wisconsin when we were visiting. We couldn't believe the dogs didn't bark, the feeder was pretty close to the house!
ReplyDeleteWe get deer, opossum, raccoons, an occasional coyote or fox, and lots of squirrels and chipmunks!
It's structure destruction week on your blog!
ReplyDeleteWe get squofers. As city folk, we're not sure what they really are, but they're huge and they look like the result of an unholy alliance between a squirrel and a gopher. They dig, and I think one of them mated with the neighbor's cat. Yikes.
We have all kinds of wildlife around here...This summer we had 2 pet ground hogs...they even got brave enough to come close to the house...which did not make Koda happy...
ReplyDeleteWe get lots of different birds in our yard. Because we are in the path of the spring/fall migrations we get a lot of visitors. We also have lizards and squirrels, deer, snakes, and tarantulas. Occationally we get an armadillo, possum or rabbit in the yard. Next door in the woods, we've seen porcupines, foxes and heard (rare)a mountain lion wandering through.
ReplyDeleteApart from the echidna I blogged about a couple of weeks ago, the wildlife at our place is usually birds or lizards, an occasional snake, but not much else. There are kangaroos on the property, but they never venture too close to the house and the foxes we hear stay away because of the dogs.
ReplyDeleteI get none, you are very lucky to have that sort of trouble :)
ReplyDeleteWow, they really destroyed that one. We get lots of birds; little finches and mourning and turtle doves and crows. An occasional, but rare fox and lots of squirrels.
ReplyDeleteNancy
Sorry about your bird feeder! We don't get much wildlife here in the city, but there are squirrels and birds, including pigeons and seagulls. We even saw a racoon on a bridge for the train. He was just walking along the outside, going from one side to the other.
ReplyDeleteWhen we go apple picking, we've seen deer. There are bears and other wildlife too, but we've only seen deer.
Do squirrells count as 'wildlife?' Hey - I am a city girl - our squirrels come up, hand us a list of food supplies they need for the winter and a bad to fill! We are truly civilized! lol
ReplyDeleteBahahaha Tracy! I'll send Nips & Andy right over with their wish lists! I tell you, they're going to be ticked off soon.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, we had a flock of finch and other birds come by the fountain today. They've been making themselves a little scarce lately. But I swear to you, THREE or FOUR of them crashed into the window all one right after another today. Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk! Fortunately, they hit where the screen was, so they flew off. But GEEZ!