RED SQUIRREL CARRYING GRASS UP TO THE BIRD FEEDER

We have a red squirrel which everyday comes to our bird feeder located on a porch deck one floor above the backyard. He has to compete with the black-capped c...
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We have a red squirrel which everyday comes to our bird feeder located on a porch deck one floor above the backyard. He has to compete with the black-capped chickadees, nuthatches and juncos for food which are there almost all the time. A few weeks ago the squirrel took to covering the bird feeder over with grass that he picks from the backyard presumably with the intention of hiding the feeder from the birds. It takes him about 20 trips to do the job which includes having to repeatedly scale the porch uprights.. Every day I remove the grass and every day he replaces it with yet more grass. So far the squirrel has carried close to ten pounds of grass to the bird feeder. I am curious to see how long he keeps this up given that winter snow is beginning to cover much of the lawn.
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Anchorage, Alaska, US

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Nov, 2022

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:) :) :) What a story to tell!! Can't you simply leave him "his " feeder and install another one in the branches for the bird :D

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Good question Annette. I see the existing situation as a compromise. Both the squirrel and the birds get to have their fill every day. As a side note red squirrels normally depend on conifer seeds for their survival in Alaska. Their numbers apparently go up and down depending on the size of a cone seed abundance in a given year. Putting a variety of bird seed out that includes sunflower seeds the squirrel and birds seem to like. I also top the feeder with separately bought walnuts that I crush is proving to be very popular. I suspect this is helping to keep the squirrel alive given that we do not have many conifers in the immediate area. 😊