Update on the Squirrel front. . . .

My new feeder is very cool, the birds are enjoying it.  My fat little squirrel however, is not having any fun.  He has taken a few twirls around on it and is not happy.  He went flying around at least 4 times before he let go yesterday.  He has gone around by two feet and then by all four feet.  He is still trying to figure out a way to get to that food.  The kids and I have just belly laughed at him being flung about.  I was feeling a little guilty about the poor thing not having anything to eat so we picked up a squirrel block for him.  It is whole kernel corn pressed into a brick shape with sunflower seeds and something else I cannot remember.  It hangs from a shepherds crook up near the woods.  My dear little squirrel has not found it yet, but you will never guess what has.   A giant crow.  He swoops down and bangs it with his feet so that the corn comes flying off.  It is like a regular little wild kingdom in my backyard these days.  I think my cat birds are nesting too, they have been rather aggressive the past few days.  The poor little deprived squirrel, dizzy from his carousel ride, also got dive bombed by the cat bird yesterday.

The Bird Feeder. . .

We used to keep a bird feeder with seed in our back yard.  It became more of a squirrel feeder and when we ran out of food we stopped filling it up.  It finally fell apart and we tossed it.  When dear hubby and I were out on one of our shopping excursions last week we bought another bird feeder and decided we would try again.  I love having the birds out there.  We have some of the most beautiful birds in the country in our great state.  I like being able to sit or stand in my kitchen and see them flitting about.  Some days I try to see how many I can name.  I took an ornithology (study of birds) class when I was in college and one of the requirements of the class was to learn the genus and species name for our local birds.  I was really good at it back then.  I even went with my professor one Saturday for the Great North Carolina Bird Count.  That is where bird enthusiasts go out in specific areas and count the many types of birds they see and write them down to report to the lead person heading up the count.  We identified 100 different species of birds that Saturday.  
I noticed this morning a squirrel laying over the top of my feeder with it's little head hanging down eating the bird seed.  I buy high quality bird seed for my birds and I do not like the squirrels eating it up.  The birds cannot get to the feeder when Mr. Squirrely is on it either.  This morning I decided I would get rid of the squirrel.  I got the BB gun and proceeded to take aim.  I was a little rusty and it took several shots before I got back in the groove.  The last shot I took I think I hit his hind end.  He jumped and ran and I hope he does not come back.