Squirrels! Hrmmph!

Sitting at my computer this morning, a furry blur caught my eye. On top of one of the feeders. One with a squirrel baffle. Hhrmph. I took a closer look.

But, it was hard to be too annoyed. This rascal had suspended him/herself from the top of the feeder and was munching away. Quite amazing.

I have no idea how it had managed to get there -- maybe leapfrogging across the tops of the other feeders from the nearby dogwood? My gardening companion thinks that it probably leaped down from the big Southern red oak -- this feeder used to be in the open, but things are growing well this year.

I mean, really -- this squirrel was dangling there for ages chowing down, before I went outside and it nimbly scampered up the thistle feeder to leap into the dogwood.

Read more...

Hmm, another happy herbivore

I'm quite familiar with squirrels having unusual interests in radicchio. Peculiar, given how bitter it is in hot weather.

But late this afternoon, I spotted this fellow (or gal) yumming up radicchio leaves around the old pepper plant cage. And, there was evidence that the red-stemmed chicory was next; the cut leaf remnants were clear. The picture is blurry, but the evidence obvious.


Uh, I thought squirrels focused on acorns and hickory nuts in fall, with an occasional mushroom or two. Clearly not.

Read more...

Radicchio and squirrels

Last year, a nursing squirrel found the radicchio irresistable, but I was still surprised to come out the kitchen door this afternoon and see a squirrel scampering off with a radicchio leaf in her (presumably) mouth.


She left clear evidence behind. And, I had thought that clump was a bit bigger, but had absentmindedly thought perhaps I'd harvested some of it, and forgot? (the trio of greens)?

Hmm, not exactly. But I don't really mind. The beautiful red coloration in radicchio develops in cool weather, so hopefully the fall growth stimulated by the 'pruning' will be nice.

Read more...

Foraging squirrels

Eastern gray squirrels are an adaptable species, so are quite at home in our wooded gardens and urban neighborhoods. We've had lots of fun watching them in our garden, especially after they were banished from the attic by a new gutter and roof, so now live in leafy dreys up in the old red oak trees. Their preferred foods are acorns and hickory nuts, but they'll also eat mushrooms, fruits, and young leaves and buds.

They do dig holes everywhere this time of the year, sniffing out buried acorns and hickory nuts & checking out whether there might be a tasty bulb planting. I don't find this tremendously bothersome, although they do dig holes in my flats of young lettuce and container plantings. But I just smooth the potting mix or soil back and figure I've got plenty of seedlings anyway.

They have a habit of chewing young buds and leaves this time of year, and folks that have young trees that are particularly desirable (think Japanese maples), which must have sweet, nutrient-rich buds, can see a good bit of herbivory. But we were surprised the other evening, sitting out on the porch, by two of our furry residents yumming up the young leaves and buds of the water oak in front of the house. We couldn't tell if they were eating the young catkins -- but definitely they were nibbling on shoot tips and young leaves. My gardening companion took some nice shots of these herbivores in action.

Read more...

Squirrels and salad?

In a optimistic mood, I sowed Treviso radicchio in the spring, thinking that I'd have nice small red leaves, in spite of the approaching summer heat. Unfortunately, Treviso radicchio turns red in cool weather, so I've had a lovely robust green patch all summer long; it's trouble-free but too bitter to eat without leaching out the bitter compounds before cooking, and then it's tough. I've left it in the garden as an experiment. I'm hoping that cool fall weather will mellow the taste, and encourage the leaves to actually look like radicchio. I had some lovely round heads a couple of seasons ago that were beautiful in the winter garden. So imagine my surprise when something started nibbling on a few leaves. We first thought maybe squirrels were using the flexible leaves in their summer nests, but I thought that the bitterness would deter them from too much activity. Yesterday evening, however, we had quite a surprise. The culprit (a cute female squirrel who's actually nursing according to a wildlife biologist friend of ours) was in full view of the kitchen window munching away. Who knew that squirrels like salad!

Read more...