Re: Squirrels are great.

Yes Aysa, they are so beautiful, I agree....but there are a few still around, hope they are male and female.

I love squirrels.....they are so funny, and so intelligent. You can train them to do almost anything....(for a nut, of course)

Re: Squirrels are great.

Full house at the feeders on a very windy morning up here in Edinburgh.

Re: Squirrels are great.

Oh, that is so beautiful. I love these videos. I have a nice tree down at the back of the yard, I think I will put up a feeder for the birds. I may have to put one up for the squirrels also or they won't let the birds near it, hahaha......

I will copy your style. Is it best to start it now, or wait until spring? I don't think we see any birds in the winter.....but squirrels, yes.

Re: Squirrels are great.

Definitely put feeders up now as it is more important to feed birds during the winter months. I have 4 in total one for seeds, one for peanuts, one for bird cake I make myself and the squirrel feeder which I adapted as I noticed they struggled when the level of nuts dropped.

If you want any feeder recommendations, as there are some really rubbish ones out there, pigeons completely destroyed a wooden squirrel feeder I had, let us know.i buy seeds and nuts online in hukkbasvit is a lot cheaper and quality is better.

Re: Squirrels are great.

Personally I don't think feeding native/wild animals is a good thing but curiously enough the UK is the only country that I can find that says it is a good idea.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43349781

Elsewhere:

http://www.wildlifelandtrust.org/wil...t-to-feed.html

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-...-birds/7118192

http://wildbirdrescues.com.au/feedin...-garden-birds/

I have a lot of native birds in my garden who come in winter for the nectar of the Grevillea for example and for water from the bird bath. There have been a number of stories recently in the media about the bad habit of feeding Magpies mince.

Re: Squirrels are great.

Would you like to share your recipe for bird cake? I would be interested in how you do that......

I think it is a wonderful hobby and a lot of fun feeling the birds and squirrels. I am going to try to get some feeders up but the winter is just around the corner and I don't know if I have enough time right now......but I will try, I have nice nice trees in the back yard....

Re: Squirrels are great.

Gee Bruce, we have feeders around here, but I am not so sure if it is legal or not, I must look into it.......I live with the forrest at the back, so I wouldn't have any trouble putting them up on the edge, but I would rather them be closer to the house.......

What a beautiful bird....

Re: Squirrels are great.

I am assuming you are in the USA, not sure what @Bruce means by "Personally I don't think feeding native/wild animals is a good thing" but as far as I am concerned I will continue to do so unless the science is overwhelming that I am doing wrong.

Anyway I have two Gardman A01044 Heavy Duty Seed Feeders, one Cozy Bay 15-Inch Peanut Bird Feeder and one Happy Beaks Kingfisher Hanging Suet Fat Cakes Holder all bought from Amazon.
Squirrel feeder.

As for the cake this is pretty simple to make but takes a bit of practice to get right.
I used seed mix, peanuts that have been crushed in a blender, dried fruit like currants etc and if I have bread them some bread crumbs and suet or fat to bind it all together.

I have some tupperware of plastic kitchen tubs that I line with cling film, this makes it easier to get the cake out once set. After mixing the dry ingredients I melt the suet. Now you only want to add enough suet to bind all the dry ingredients together, put in the tubs and pack it down so it is solid, bung in fridge.

I tend not to over feed the birds and only put the cake out once every two days and only fill the seeder also every other day. The squirrel feeder I always keep topped up.

Re: Squirrels are great.

This is a first, three squirrels in close proximity, usually they will not tolerate another each other this close to the feeder.

Re: Squirrels are great.

It is certainly not illegal just frowned upon here. Though you are encouraged to grow plants and trees that attract birds.

My garden gets lots of those Rainbow Lorrikets as well as Gallahs and Sulphur Crests (they bent my TV aerial the little bastards)







Those aren't Sulphur Crests BTW I think they are a Corella of some sort (Long Billed?)