We have a new squirrel in the yard this winter and she is sure cheeky. She definitely knows who feeds her and where the food comes from. She is always in the yard when I go out to feed in the morning. This morning (Monday the 20th) she was hanging out on the power pole waiting and watching the feeder that is on the pole. It is the one they like to crawl in and eat out of and some of them will rest on the tray.
This little lady hung upside down on the pole right above the metal feeder, just out of reach, the whole time I was in the yard filling the big feeder and the metal feeder which set close together. When I walked over to the oak tree about 10 feet away from the pole she came down and started to eat on the tray. I decided to see how close she would let me get while she was on the metal feeder and was surprised how close she let come. I walked from the oak tree over to big barn shaped feeder about 10 feet the pole to put food in one of the bowls that is on the post below the barn feeder.
I talked to her all the way to the big feeder asking her if I could come and fill the metal feeder. I filled the cup below the barn. It is on a little picnic table that has benches for the squirrels to sit on. She sat on the metal feeder and looked at me all the time I was there talking to her. She sat and watched me until I moved away from the little picnic table and started to walk down the yard near her. I was going to go to the feeder in the maple tree at the other end of the yard. As I walked about 10 feet from her she decided to leave and jumped onto the fence behind the pole.
From the fence she made fast tracks down the fence to the north end of the yard. She didn’t leave the yard but as soon as I went back toward the garage door to go into house she was back on the feeder before I got into the house. I think she is also the one that comes up on the patio step by the sliding doors of the house and if there is no food on the step or the brick ledge she will get on the ledge and look in the door.
She sure is brave to come up and look in the door and I have started calling her Cheeky. She doesn’t mind asking for the food to be replenished and I don’t mind putting more out on the patio so I can see all the squirrels and the birds that come up to eat. I’ve never named a squirrel that is in the yard on a daily basis after the one we fed that had only a stub of a tail that stood straight up on his back. He was one of the squirrels that was pretty tame and would stay in the tree while I put seeds in the bowl. But after he got run over going back and forth across Monroe I swore I wouldn’t name another one and get fond of it.
Usually every morning when I go out to put sunflower seeds in the feeders Cheeky is waiting in the neighbor’s umbrella tree or sitting up in our oak tree. She will watch me go from feeder to feeder and stay in the tree. As soon as I come back in the house she will come down to the little green chair in the oak tree that is for squirrels and will sit in the chair and eat out of the little bowl attached to the front of the chair seat.
She has even been on the patio eating seeds that fall from the tube feeder and on the back step picking up peanut chips that I put out. She has a different looking tail than most of the squirrels so is easy to spot.
She is so comfortable coming up close that I am surprised that she doesn’t come to the patio door and knock on the window when they are out of food. I would love it if she did that but don’t want her to get too comfortable with us because that is when something usually happens to them. So I am content to see her at a distance when I am in the yard for a few minutes and to watch her feeding from the green chair or the patio under the tube feeder. To contact Sandy: [email protected]
