We’ve fed the birds in our woods for decades. But, this winder we decided to put out some corn in hopes of drawing the squirrels in. We have a large heard this season and they are great fun to watch.
So, I stopped at Tractor #and brought home a corn feeder, a 50# bag of shelled corn, and a bag of eared corn. Long story short, so far the squirrels have totally ignored it. I see them run down the tree and a few minutes run back up; showing no interest in the goodies offered. My only theory is that the corn feeder is hanging on a hickory tree and there’s got to be lots of hickory nuts on the ground that the squirrels prefer over corn.
In the end, I gave up and turned the squirrel station into a bird feeding station. Most of the bird species like corn and I’ve mixed in a little black oil sunflower seeds along with suet and crunchy peanut butter. Everything seems to appreciate the effort except the tufted titmice who remain loyal to the old sunflower seed feeders.
My attention next turned to try to get some photos and video of the action at the new feeder. First I tried my smartphone on a tripod and using a wireless shutter release. That was a failure because the phone returned to the Home screen after a couple of minutes. After returning the remote to Amazon I ordered a budget action camera with remote control and that wouldn’t get close enough without my going outside and rigging up some sort of nearby exterior mount. So, back that went and in its place came a wireless remote release for my old Canon SX50. I need to do some tweaking but I think that’s going to work. Today I shot a bunch of photos and turned them into a slide show for YouTube. As you’ll see I need to still zoom closer and get a better focus.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the efforts.
Larry, loved your video. Laughed at Candy’s comment. We had a squirrel get into our attic in Macon, GA . Chewed a hole into the duct for A/C. Causing a leak in our dining room ceiling from condensation… They can be very destructive. But I do love them so. And find the squirrels, chipmunks and birds entertaining. All have different personalities. Just the other day, our set of Morning Doves up on our little table on patio (I now put bird food and sunflower seeds on this table) feeding and drinking water! I was surprised, Doves usually only eat off the ground, hardly ever from a feeder. Didn’t have my camera and when I went to get it, they moved. DARN!
Larry, I have a cabin in Pigeon Forge Tennessee. For years Jim and I kept corn for the squirrels. We bought little seats for them to set on while they ate. Had one on the back deck and one on the front fence rail. We could watch them from the kitchen or front porch. They are comical to watch. But then we started having trouble with wires to different things in the house. We was told by the electric company that squirrels was chewing the wires, to keep their teeth sharp and short. We continued feeding them anyway. Family’s that went always told us how much they enjoyed them. We have a monthly exterminator service, he called me one day and said the laundry room was full of mealy bugs. And it was because we kept a bag of shelled corn stored there. I ask him to put it outside. The next time we went down, we bought a plastic tub bought another 50 lb bag of corn. Put it on the back deck. Then the next time, I went to check and see if we needed more corn. There was a perfect circle in the lid of the tub. And not a kernal of corn. We decided they got enough acorns around to keep them fat. Sure do miss their antics though.