I want to add a comment ....
I enjoy the squirrels. My whole reason for gardening is for the wildlife. Particularly the hummingbirds and butterflies. I've tried growing veggies for me and my family, but the heat and bugs are a battle for such plants, unless it is during the warmest times of winter when the insect population is down. But I really prefer gardening to attract the critters more than any other reason.
I video-taped my bird/squirrel feeding station this morning by setting up my old video camera on a tripod. I can't see the ground area as easily anymore because of all the plants partially blocking my view from the windows inside my house. The mosquitoes are so bad currently that I can hardly even go outside without getting swarmed. Normally, I would just sit out there quietly and observe, but we've had a lot of rain so the mosquito population has exploded ... it's pretty miserable to be outside if you are a warm-blooded mammal.
I wanted to see the squirrels. I had 5 or 6 come to the large saucers on the ground that I fill with sunflower seeds, corn, and a few peanuts. I also fill up the hanging bird feeders with sunflowers and peanuts. Do you know that all the squirrels were well-behaved, but the birds were not. The birds have a hanging platform feeder that I actually add more peanuts and sunflower seeds in than I do the saucers on the ground. Did the birds go to the hanging feeder? NO! They instead were eating the few peanuts that I left in the saucers for the squirrels. And after they ate most of the squirrel's peanuts (the squirrels did manage to get some peanuts), then they went to the hanging platform "bird" feeder to eat their own peanuts. The squirrels never even tried to chase the birds off, but instead ate peacefully next to them. I was so mad at the birds! It was bluejays and grackles. I had no idea they were doing that until I caught it on video. So ... just goes to show that squirrels don't intentionally go to feeders to steal from the birds. They go to the feeders because they are hungry and it's an easy food source.
And the little bit of digging they sometimes do in my yard/garden beds is not even worth noting compared to the HUGE holes that the armadillos dig and moles tunneling all over my yard. But hey! That's nature for you! Gotta love it!
