Last Monday morning I went out to the woodshed to get the feeders to put out for the birds. But they weren't in the shed. Then I realized that I forgot to put them away the night before. I went and looked at where I hang them. Both hummingbird feeders were on the ground and empty. The Suet cage was on the ground and the door was open. A brand new suet block worth $5. was gone. I had just put it in there the day before. The damn coons had struck again. I put a new suet block out today, but made some modifications to the cage. I secured the door with 12 plastic wire ties, 6 on each side. Plus one 1/2 inch wide white tie that goes all the way around the cage and is woven in and out of the wire segmnts. Hopefully I won't forget to put it away again. I had, had the door secured with a dog chain clip. The damn coons had pulled the lever back, opened the door and then clipped it back on the side of the cage! One of them coons is a master burgerler. I also got an Oriol feeder this morning and mixed up nectar for it, but so far no takers at it. I do have them in the area as I have seen both males an females. Plus twice we have had females trying to eat from the hummer's feeders.
I know you are fighting a battle of wits with those 'coons CK but, in a way, I've got to admire them. They undid the clip, took what they wanted and put the clip back - now that's clever! Let's hope your latest effort to secure the fat cake beats them though. The oriels will probbly take a few days to get used to the new feeder just as my birds here do. I hope you're around when they start enjoying the nectar from it... with camera at the ready of course. :-D
Coons ate my koi till i got a black lab. she keeps out all other critters, sometime thats bad, she also ate the blue bird babies..I could not get to them soon enough to put them on other side of the fence. they fledged before I thought they would. but no coons or armadillo digging up stuff.
The war has spread to the squirrels now. They were out there at the suet block knocking chunks loose and then going down on the ground to eat the seeds. A couple of well placed BB's in the butt took care of them for a while!
Enter a new player in the game! A chipmonk has been getting braver and braver. He has been climbing the tree and getting his fair share of seeds. Just now I looked out and he was inside the suet cage! It seems there is a big enough space at the top where he could get his little body in it. I went out and clapped my hands and he came squirting out of it! So I went to the garage and got a shepherds crook hanger and now it is hanging from that. We will see how that works. If they climb up that, then I will start greasing the pole! :0
