{"id":137675,"date":"2023-06-13T06:11:35","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T12:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=137675"},"modified":"2023-06-13T08:13:42","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T14:13:42","slug":"bandito-and-my-attempt-to-outfox-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2023\/06\/13\/bandito-and-my-attempt-to-outfox-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Bandito And My Attempt To Outfox Him"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve told you about Bandito before but it’s time you met him, one of the most proficient bird seed thieves in the county.<\/p>\n

Fox squirrels, also known as eastern fox squirrels, are not native to Utah. They were first reported near the Jordan River in Salt Lake City in 2011 and in the intervening years their numbers in northern Utah have increased dramatically. I began seeing them in my neighborhood and yard several years ago and I thoroughly enjoyed having them around and watching their antics.<\/p>\n

Until this spring and summer when one of them, a presumed male that I call Bandito, started stealing bird seed from one of my feeders. By the bucketload.<\/p>\n

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I buy high quality bird seed at Wild Birds Unlimited<\/a><\/span><\/span> by the 20 lb. bag and it isn’t cheap. This bag cost me $44 – normally it’s $52 but I belong to their Daily Saving’s Club so I get it a little cheaper. It’s a price I’m willing to pay for the birds but it isn’t my intention to feed every stray critter in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Yes, this is a shameless plug for my friends at Wild Birds Unlimited – owners Kelli Frame in Salt Lake City and Dan and Barbara Gleason in Eugene, Oregon.<\/p>\n

When Bandito is active at my feeder I have to fill it nearly twice as often, so recently I’ve begun making an attempt to reduce my losses. And perhaps get some entertainment value out of it as a bonus.<\/p>\n

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This is the feeder that Bandito considers to be his own personal larder. He climbs the pole, hangs from the feeder, eats his fill (which is a lot) and spills much of the rest of it to the ground. And he’s sly, man is he sly. He refuses to appear when I’m in the back yard and if he sees me watching him through my kitchen windows he immediately vamooses up one of my catalpa trees. Or climbs the back fence and disappears in one of the other trees or bushes.<\/p>\n

Recently I’ve installed a Slinky on the pole in a probably futile attempt to prevent him from climbing it. I’ve seen videos of squirrels trying to climb Slinkys and it’s hilarious, so I’ll admit that part of my motivation is my own entertainment. Maybe the primary part because I suspect that in the long run I’ll lose this competition.<\/p>\n

So far, results are inconclusive but encouraging. I haven’t yet been lucky enough to see Bandito attempt to climb the Slinky but I keep watching out my windows for it and since I’ve installed the Slinky I’ve never once seen him on the feeder. He’s always been on the ground below it, eating spilled seed.<\/p>\n

So I believe he’s attempted to climb it when I wasn’t watching and given up trying. At least for now.<\/p>\n

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The only way I can photograph him, if I get very lucky, is through the (dirty) glass of my patio door. Shooting through the glass makes my photos soft to very soft but he’s so spooky it’s the best I can do.<\/p>\n

This is him yesterday morning, eating seed spilled from my feeder.<\/p>\n

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Almost immediately he spotted me through the glass and…<\/p>\n

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he was off like a shot. This may be the softest photo I’ve ever posted to Feathered Photography but you get the idea. It took him about two seconds to…<\/p>\n

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race across the length of my back yard and climb the largest of my catalpa trees where he always disappears without a trace.<\/p>\n

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So, that’s where the competition stands at the moment between Bandito and the bird photographer. Squirrels are smart and incredibly persistent so some of them eventually figure out how to defeat the Slinky, one way or another. Believe it or not, some squirrels learn to use their nose to push the slinky in front of them as they’re climbing up the pole<\/a><\/span><\/span>. Mission accomplished.<\/p>\n

If Bandito turns out to be that smart, I’ll be OK with it. I’ll actually be proud of him and it’ll still be entertaining.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

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Notes:<\/em><\/p>\n