My Back Yard

I’ve discovered a new squirrel blog, The Red Squirrel, featuring photos of squirrels that visit a feeder in Bavaria, Germany. Check it out!

Squirrelly cuteness definitely crosses national boundaries.

Squirrelogs should be for squirrels, right?

Iggy and I run a Squirrel Cafe, which is meant to feature a corn cob jammed onto a nail for squirrels’ eating pleasure. But dried corn cobs have been in short supply since the ethanol boom started. Iggy hasn’t found them at Agway in months. So, on his last visit to the store, Iggy bought a package of Squirrelogs made of sweet corn flour molded into a corn cob shape. My fluffy-tailed friends don’t like the Squirrelogs as much as the real thing. But they seem to enjoy gnawing on the logs occasionally.

The squirrels had the Squirrelogs all to themselves. Until yesterday, when I noticed some sparrows pecking at the rain-moistened corn product. They came back again today. Next, I noticed a blue jay working on the Squirrelog.

Birds had ignored the traditional corn cobs in the cafe, but now they’ve taken with gusto to the ersatz replacement. The poor squirrels are sharing yet another food source with the birds. In my backyard, there’s no food that’s exclusive to squirrels. The birds get in on all the action. Plus, they have three feeders that hang off a wall of our house where the squirrels can’t reach.

A bunny grazed in broad daylight on dried corn that Iggy had scattered over our patio earlier in the day. Rabbits are supposed to be crepuscular. Most of our earlier bunny sightings have been after dusk.

The bunny was the size of two squirrels in one. Smaller than the bunny that had frozen in place when we’d driven home one evening. But a lot bigger than the baby bunny that started to dart in front of my car, but then thought better of it, earlier this week.

A squirrel chomped on the corn about two squirrel body-lengths away. It looks like bunnies and squirrels can coexist. I haven’t seen either species close to Rachel Raccoon.

Let’s welcome “Life in Squirreldom” to the blogosphere.

It features some mighty cute squirrels written and photographed by Squirrel Mama Elizabeth Kricfalusi.

We are not amused.

The most e-mailed article from yesterday’s New York Times was “Peter Rabbit Must Die,” an article about killing the animals that damage your garden.

I prefer this philosophy, also cited in the article:
“There is also the approach offered by Catherine Wachs, a gardener who runs the Right Brain Design advertising company and lives in Larchmont, N.Y.: ‘I do what the Bible says: Leave the corners of your field unharvested for the poor and strangers among you.’ “

In Scotland they’re building a highway overpass that will be for squirrels only.

“300 ft bridge to protect Tufty Club” will unite two pieces of red squirrel territory after a new highway goes through.

Thank goodness for wildlife rehabilitators. Here’s a story about another helper of squirrels.

Some squirrel lovers contribute a lot more to the well-being of squirrels than Iggy and me.

Go to “Squirrel Watch: Empty Nest Again” for a touching tale and adorable photos by a rehabber.

View more photos at “Squirrel Watch: Year Two Preview.”

You may know squirrels as a gardener’s worst enemy.

But I thank squirrels for giving my front yard’s garden its distinctive look. Right now my garden looks good enough that one neighbor told Iggy that her friend backed up to take a second look at it.

I could have had a traditional spring bulb garden with brightly colored tulips following hardy crocuses. I could have if I didn’t have lots of bushy-tailed friends flocking to my yard to partake of the sunflower seeds, corn, and peanuts that Iggy and I provide. Planting crocus and tulip bulbs in a squirrel-frequented yard is like announcing “Squirrel party here… come and get’em!”

My garden designer gave my garden great structure with her suggestions of perennials to plant: rhododendrons, andromeda Dorothy Wyckoff, eunonymous Emerald Gaiety, fothergilla gardenii, and Knockout shrub roses.

But I wanted flowers. “What can I buy that the squirrels won’t devour?” She directed me toward small bulb flowers that squirrels don’t care for. I’ve added hyacinthoides hispanica mix, scilla bifolia rosea and armeniacum, and muscari mixtures. They shoot up in brilliant or pale blues, pinks, and white.

My crowning glory, however, comes with the daffodils. I’ve planted gobs of Van Engelen’s Narcissus Grand Collection. They’ve turned my weedy berm into a showcase.

Thank you, squirrels, for pushing me toward these beautiful bulbs!

Here’s another cat and squirrel story: “‘Momma’ takes in baby squirrel.”