Many years ago, my dear husband made this log feeder for the birds. I fill the holes with peanut butter and the birds really enjoy this goodie we provide for them in the winter. Some days when the weather is exceptionally cold, a filling lasts only one day.
Up here we have little red (pine) squirrels who take great pleasure in devouring the sunflower seeds we put out in feeders for the birds, and they would do the same to the peanut butter but the feeder is in a spot they can't get to. However, I do have to watch the level of the peanut butter at the end of each day because we have what seems to be a platoon of nocturnal flying squirrels who can access the peanut butter filled log and go after it at night with great gusto.
And as you can see in the above picture, if the peanut butter is gone, they gnaw at the wood around the holes to get every last, little, tasty bit of goodness and flavor they can.
Slowly but surely, our log feeder is being consumed by the flying squirrels . . . who must be getting a build-up of wood splinters in their bellies. Or maybe they've heard a certain amount of fiber is good for them.
18 comments:
I never thought I'd hear of somebody with a peanut butter stealing, nocturnal flying rodent problem.
Now I have.
Nocturnal flying squirrels? Sounds like something out of a horror movie! I can imagine going out at night to put the garbage out and having to duck or be attacked by the nocturnal flying squirrels! Good thing about the log is Papa Pea can always make another bird feeder.
Mama Pea,
Instead of the walking dead, it's the flying dead, lol.....
I love this feeder your husband made, great idea!!!
We don't see flying squirrels around here much but have your normal everyday squirrel eating the seeds and enjoying the salt lick setup outside our fence.
Every day I fill up the bird feeder, and within an hour or so they've ate all the food.......greedy little birds :-)
Hey, there's "cellulose" in a lot of the foods nowadays (cheap fillers!), so I guess the squirrels have to contend with it as well!
We have a walnut tree that has now got the attention of two squirrels. I see them out and about every now and then. Neat feeder by the way.
That feeder is cool! I may have to look at coming up with something like that. Equally cool,by the way, is your cadre of readers and posters who cut right to the chase and go straight to the whole Rocky Squirrel come Dr. Evil - night thief and nefarious log gnawer thing. I like it here!
I've been pouring Black Oil Sunflower seed into our feeders too. In the cold weather they scarf them empty in just a couple of days. We don't see a lot of squirrels, but have had to put the cone metal racoon guards on our posts to keep them from trashing then emptying the feeders.
Infared binoculars? Those naughty squirrels are awfully cute.
The feeder is a great idea.
Carolyn - You learn all kinds of things on the Internet, don't you? ;o}
Sparkless - But they're such cute, little, shy things. Really! At the rate this log feeder is being whittled away, he may have to do just that soon!
Sandy - I think if all of us ever added up the amount of $$$ we spend feeding the birds (and squirrels), we'd be astounded!
Sue - Geesh, I'd hate to think I'm contributing to the obesity of our squirrels!
Thanks, Kristina!
Mark - Are you saying my readers are slightly on the strange side? If so, don't forget I count you among them! (Hee-hee.)
odiie - I know you must have them, too. Aren't they the cutest little things?
Laurie - Thanks! I've put melted suet in the holes, too, but they seem to prefer the peanut butter.
I'm afraid I don't fill our bird feeders anymore, so they join the chickens and pigs to share their grain. We've had a few flying squirrels down here on occasion, but they never seem to stay long.
Leigh - We don't feed our birds in the summer but feel they need help in the winter when natural seeds, etc. are covered up with snow. I guess the peanut butter isn't very "natural" food for them, but I like to think it helps keep them warm in the winter. I've often wondered if the flying squirrels are as prevalent as the numerous (!) red squirrels. But since they're nocturnal and very shy, we don't see them often.
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