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February 1999
Squirrels are creatures that arouse ambivalent feelings. Some people think they are cute. Others think them a terrible nuisance. Many of us entertain both sentiments at once.
At breakfast one morning, I was talking with my husband about my thoughts for this month's column. I said that perhaps squirrels developed character in people. In resisting anger and working compassionately with the situation, humans learn to keep a sense of perspective and to remain philosophical in frustrating circumstances. I reminded him of our early years when I witnessed his uncharacteristic flares of anger, all because of the squirrels' activities at the bird feeders.
With a wry expression, he responded, "We're all on a spiritual path to being one with the squirrels. It is a difficult journey and we do stumble sometimes."
Choking on my coffee, I asked if I could quote him.
It's taken us ten years of observation, learning, and trial and error to develop the management, and attitude, for a comfortable relationship with the squirrels. We have just four feeding stations, largely to keep cleaning chores at a reasonable level. The seed feeders are on posts because, even with baffles, the squirrels could get to the ones hung on trees.
The squirrels are not at all interested in two of the four feeding stations. One offers niger seeds for finches, mourning doves and juncos. The other station has suet. I use beef suet from the meat section of the grocery store because it doesn't contain seeds, and so doesn't attract squirrels. I slice the large suet chunks and keep it in the freezer for easy use. Downy and hairy woodpeckers, chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, blue jays, tufted titmice and the occasional flock of starlings come for the suet.
Cardinals, titmice and rose-breasted grosbeaks use a feeder with black oil sunflowers. The spring-loaded perches do deter larger birds, but the squirrels learned to get to the seed anyway. They could also tip the baffle to hop over it. By this time I was really impressed by their problem solving skills. The only hope of preventing them from using the feeder was the baffle, and watching them one day I had an epiphany. Using sections of narrow plastic hose and wire, I improvised a way to prevent the baffle from tipping. Now the squirrels can't move it to hop over. This arrangement is still working, although I hope my boasting now doesn't jinx my luck.
There is, finally, a cage feeder filled with black oil sunflowers. Goldfinches and chickadees move easily through the grill, but squirrels are excluded. When they learned to remove the cage lid, they were foiled by a snap I found at the hardware store.
Many food sources exist for squirrels in their natural surroundings. In my yard they eat acorns, maple seeds and seeds from pine cones. When the pear tree had a bumper crop last summer, the squirrels enjoyed the ripe fruit along with the crows, groundhog, bees and butterflies. They eat seeds from the lilacs, which are also taken by cardinals.
In severe winter weather, or very occasionally, I provide heels of bread, leftover peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and my failed or stale muffins and biscuits. After Halloween, I put our pumpkins on the stone wall out back. The squirrels gnaw through the flesh to the seeds. I also give them the Indian corn I used for decoration. When I make applesauce, I put the cores and peelings out for them and other species that might be interested. I never put out a lot at once and never near the house.
Squirrels do eat birds' eggs as part of their natural diet. This makes me pause. I help the squirrels in rough weather, but I don't want to support a larger population than would naturally occur in our habitat conditions. Not wishing to start a cascade of consequences that I might never know about, I limit my interference. Enhancing the backyard habitat with plantings, nest boxes and water, with a few feeders to supplement natural food sources, is a less precarious way of benefiting wildlife generally. It avoids the disadvantages of excessive feeding, such as attracting large numbers of starlings, English sparrows, and pigeons as well as squirrels.
I see our relationship with squirrels as a microcosm of our relationship with nature. Admitting our inability to control, we find balance using a combination of acceptance, management, and camaraderie. That last word comes from the Old French, meaning roommate. Indeed we are.
By Nancy Coverstone (ncstone@umext.maine.edu), University of Maine Extension Educator in Androscoggin and Sagadahoc Counties
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