A couple of months ago, Ma and Sister decided to attach a clear plastic bird feeder to the outside of the window of my office (without asking me I might say). They thought it would be interesting and even fun to observe the birds eating throughout the day. I, on the other paw, through this was a bad idea from the get go. Turns out, I was right.
It started innocently enough I suppose. The cardinals were the first to discover the feeder followed closely by the sparrows. For the most part, I wasn’t troubled by either of these interlopers as they pretty much kept to themselves and their daily replacement of seeds consistently distracted my family long enough for me to munch on a few mouthfuls of grass.
But then things got out of hand.
First, the mourning doves came. Although I don’t dislike mourning doves nearly as much as I dislike robins (stupid robins hop around in front of me, never truly flying away), they're still annoying. I especially hate it when they hunker down in the grass and startle me when I walk by.
Anyway, the first mourning dove landed with a deafening thud on the feeder (it woke me up from my nap) and immediately started stuffing its face with seeds.
A little while later, the dove’s friend showed up and spent ten minutes trying to figure out how to land on the feeder next to his buddy (apparently they aren't very smart). This normally wouldn't have bothered me, but Ma and Sister keeping me awake with their laughter.
Then it got worse--the squirrels discovered the feeder. All of a sudden, squirrels started leaping from the nearby tree onto the window sill before clawing their way up to the feeder. Once in the feeder, they took up residence, spending twenty minutes at a time gorging on seeds and scaring sparrows and cardinals alike. At one point, a squirrel even managed to pull the seed tray out of the feeder sending the tray, and itself, hurtling to the ground.
The window in my office is partially obstructed by Sister’s work equipment, so I wasn’t aware of the squirrel at first, but once I was made aware, I assure you that I made sure it knew who was boss. I barked long and loud at it, eventually driving it away, before running to the side door insisting to go out to push it further back out of my territory.
I mean, I’m not totally intolerant of squirrels. They serve a purpose (mainly depositing half eaten peaches and pumpkins for me to sample) however, clawing up onto my window and looking in on me—that’s going too far.
Now that I’m aware of their latest scheme for world domination, I have upped my vigilance. I watch for those squirrels in the window and when they get too close (and standing in the tree is too close for my taste), I let loose with a bombardment of barks.
Not on my watch, squirrel. Not on my watch.
