At the feeders this morning

[nlbarber]

Birdwatching during breakfast...

Seed feeder: titmouses, chickadees, red-bellied woodpecker, blue jay, house finches, squirrel.
Suet feeder: bluebirds, downy woodpecker.
Corncob squirrel feeder: very fat squirrel.
Carcase of slow, perhaps overstuffed squirrel in street: 2 crows.

Comments

[countrycousin.livejournal.com]

Carcase of slow, perhaps overstuffed squirrel

I think their danger-avoidance algorithm is built-in, and fine-tuned for agile predators, not "I'm going in this direction and always will" cars. And wide (for their perspective) cars. Perhaps they turn one way, see the car, turn the other way, see the car closer, turn back, and - oops. I've seen the behavior many times. The oops I've only seen post-event, but I've seen lot's of near-oops's by squirrels that weren't at all slow.

We had feeders and a couple of waterers at our previous house. Around here, bird feeders turn into bear feeders in the warmer months, and I haven't figured out how to manage them during the winter months, due to the lot configuration.