Squirrel Antics, CO - Aug 2008

I like to put out bird feeders when we're going to be sitting in one site for more than just one night. As usual, the squirrels are very clever at getting into the bird seed and there's not much I can do to stop them. I was able to capture this one little guy in his efforts to get to the food.

At first, he clung to the tree trunk and tried to make a giant leap across to the feeder. That didn't work.


Then he crawled over the branch and down the bungie cord -- swinging and bouncing all the way down.



When he got to the plastic tube, he couldn't find a foothold and was clutching the side with all his might. Every movement caused the feeder tube to swing and sway and yet he still managed to hang on.



Remarkably he circled the bottom of the tube -- round and round -- looking for any opening to get to the food. Here he was using all his toes and his tail to keep from falling off. What a little gymnast.


He finally found a position where he could hang on and get his snout into the openings.


Success! He got some food and stayed in this position for a couple of minutes before getting his fill and then dropping to the ground. Look at that one back toe clutching the peg -- he really earned his reward.