Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002 15:32:18 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Fred Pierce Subject: Re: Squirrel / Bird predation In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Squirrels seem pretty indifferent to the birds at my feeders, but the birds give them a wide berth, even Red-bellied woodpeckers, which pretty much dominate the pecking order otherwise. My guess is the squirrel's unpredictable movements are a factor, i.e. thier indifference combined with a tendency to jump - as a goldfinch or other small bird I wouldn't be too happy with a squirrel landing on me, even if it wasn't intentional. In short, I'd say most birds don't want to get between a squirrel and their food. fdp -------------------------------------------------------------------- Fred Pierce (DNRC)- fpierce@avialantic.com Mid-Atlantic Aviation on the Web - http://www.avialantic.com ** Mid Atlantic Air Museum WWII Weekend Airshow June 6-8 2003 - www.maam.org/maamwwii.html ** *** World Airshow News - www.worldairshownews.com ** --------------------------------------------------------------------- > -----Original Message----- > From: Maryland Birds & Birding [mailto:MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM]On > Behalf Of Tom Beal > Sent: Sunday, November 17, 2002 11:56 AM > To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM > Subject: [MDOSPREY] Squirrel / Bird predation > > > I read an article once, that despite the classic work on the predator/prey > relationship between the snowshoe hare and the lynx, the major predator of > the hare was the red squirrel. Apparently they raid the nests while Mom > feeds and make off with many newborns. > The squirrels in my yard have become adept at vacuuming up the millet I > spread out on the ground for the sparrows. The sparrows are very > wary of the > squirrels and keep their distance. This morning a window strike goldfinch > was recuperating on my deck. It lay motionless for at least 20 minutes, > until a squirrel came poking around. The bird flew off when the squirrel > came with in a foot or two. > The squirrel did not appear to be hunting or even notice the bird > and I have > never seen a squirrel chase a sparrow while feeding. Has anyone > ever seen a > squirrel attack a bird or know of any literature? > > Tom Beal > Bowie, MD > > ======================================================================= > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================