Greedy Critters

   While I love to watch most critters around the Bayou, squirrels have got to be the nuttiest.   (Yes, that was intended.)  These fluffy tailed rodents are ridiculous.  The female goes about all summer in a tizzy as she builds a nest, has the young, repairs the nest, has another bunch of young, repairs the nest again and stores enough nuts to feed an army.  The male chases the female.  Basically, that is all he does.  She does the work, he does nothing.  

  During the winter months, squirrels' appetites become quite intense.  They eat anything...hickory nuts, acorns, sunflower seeds, flower bulbs and stale Christmas cookies.  (I actually found a gray squirrel eyeing the shell wind chimes the other day!)  It is those hickory nuts that cause me to ponder.  Have you ever tried to shell a hickory nut?  It is nigh on impossible to get a morsel larger than a grain of rice out of the nut and that is after smacking it with a hammer.  Yet, a squirrel can gnaw a tiny hole in the end of the nut and empty the contents completely.  Of course, gnawing that tiny hole leaves about ten pounds of hickory nut shreds under the tree.  (I have yet to figure out how one squirrel with one nut can create such a mess.)

  Years ago, Pop told me that it is not the gray squirrels that gnaw the hickory nuts in that fashion but rather the flying squirrels.  That makes the enigma even more confusing as flying squirrels are extremely tiny.  You would think that such a difficult chore would be left to the larger critters.  Who knows?? I am not out much at night when the flying squirrels take their outings.  

  The squirrels of all types are running low on "supplies" already this winter.  The tropical systems that came through knocked down the nuts before they were filled so food is scarce.  Lately more are gnawing on twigs and are begging for handouts.  They raid the birdfeeders as soon as the seed is available.  This causes problems for the songbirds so now I have started including table scraps to the bounty.  Apple cores, squash seeds and any other tidbits are put out for the critters in hopes that they will share.  Not likely as those squirrels are a greedy sort but I have to do something to protect those wind chimes and flower bulbs!