Interesting that I have been meaning to write about some squirrels that have invaded with their attitude. They have been climbing on the aviary scaring the birds and getting fat on the stray seed. We went to a local nursery that has a lot of nifty gadgets and such and bought a plastic owl with a bobble head and big eyes. I have been looking for an umbrella stand to put a pole in with the owl on top out of sight of the birds.

Well the owl was on a table where the birds could not see it but the squirrel came anyway Missy got fired up at the squirrel and went out yelling to chase him off for the couple hundredth time and grabbed two blue Furbys off the table as she went. They are small, round, have orange horns, eyes that light up and once you shake them they will not shut up. She was shaking them and yelling as they "talked" loudly as she chased the squirrel through four trees to the back of the yard. When she came back in I thought the noise of the Furbys was a four way cat fight. This was some days ago and we have not seen a squirrel since. Do not mess with Missy.

Don, Missy and you would have problems with me, I just came indoors from feeding my squirrel buddies peanuts. Seems everybody, including my cat and the birds get along.

mwheel, I hope your cage capture works. It would be nice if you could relase both of them at the same place. I really don't know how best to catch them, have not seen a chipy in a long time, too many cats in our neighborhood since quit some years.

They were fun when they just teased the cats outside the living room window but climbing on the aviary scared the birds so bad they hurt themselves. We like the critters too but they need to not hurt others.

You are right, I missed ON the aviary. Because you mentioned the owl statue, the little stripmall down the road had problems with pigeons. They put several owls on the roof and the pigeons kept them company.

Don, your tale of Missy vs. Squirrels cracked me up! I'm glad it seems to have worked. Mawheel, hope the trap works, I fully understand you wish them no harm, just wish them elsewhere.
Other tha that, I can't add anything helpful, these small pests are not my worry, living where I am. Coons are a real problem here, only thing to do is give them no chance to get into "our" stuff.

mawheel, I don't have any suggestions. Wish you luck and please keep us informed.

This afternoon, I called the Animal Control Board in our county, and was told that they don't "deal with wildlife', and didn't have any traps which could be borrowed or rented. I was told to contact a pest control company. I looked in the Yellow Pages and found a company which said they will 'trap and relocate'. However, I'll have to find out if they have a "wildlife permit". I can see this probably won't be inexpensive! Those little critters are lucky they're so darned cute!

Since we are talking about critters...we sometimes have wrong perceptions. There is this big old woodchuck, diving in his den as soon as he feels threatened or he/she waddles along a meadow, but your garden is fenced and they will not nibble on your veggies. Right. I just watched a woodchuck sauntering through my backyard when a dog across the back fence barked. That chuck in no time flat was at my next door neighbor's side fence went up it faster than the squirrels, leapt down and about 6 feet out, raced across the yard and up the oaktree. Now I know who nibbles at the same neighbors lettuce despite the fact that he could see nobody digging under his fence.

Talking about critters. I have a 0 tolerance for critters and that includes some bugs. in my little bitty garden. It was not built for critters and if I see some, it is us or them.
mawheel, in the past I have also called several "critter agencies" for help, but they are no help at all.
So now, when I see a critter/bug, DH comes to my rescue,

Just this afternoon, I discovered that while the chipmunks live under our deck and are digging their tunnels in our yard, they are going next door to get their food! We stopped feeding the birds for the Summer, but our neighbors--who moved in about six weeks ago--have two feeders. We saw the chippers running across our deck, and keep going to our neighbor's yard, then in a few minutes, running back across our deck, then under it, to store the food they had just gotten. In the meantime, the two tunnel entrances that I blocked, so they couldn't be used, were simply enlarged. Voila! New tunnel entrance! Clever little 'critters', aren't they?

What happens next? I don't know, yet.

What happens next? Perhaps chipmunk babies.

That's what I'm afraid of! And now, in addition to chipmunks on the outside, we are having a problem with teeny tiny ants in our kirchen. It will be easier to get rid of the chipmunks thsn the ants!

No wonder I hate hot weather!!