No, not a recipe for cooked squirrel, but rather a bird, or should I say, squirrel feeder. At least that is what we ended up calling this simple concept in our home. Allow me to explain…
Growing up we always had bird feeders in our backyard and I loved watching the birds flutter down to feast in the wintertime. Perhaps it is the sense of life and livelihood on bleak winter days, or just the surprise of seeing different types of birds from time to time. A bird fanatic I am not, I just thought it would be fun to have a feeder once we moved to Columbus (prior to this we were in a townhome that had no good place for a feeder).
At our first home in Columbus we had the most picturesque cherry tree outside our kitchen window. The branches bowed and curved perfectly to hang a feeder right where it could be seen while we ate. SPH and I tried several different hanging techniques, but time and time again, it would end up being primarily a squirrel feeder, as the local squirrels outsmarted our attempts at baffling them. It almost became a bit of a sport, and certainly fun for the boys, who liked to go on “squirrel patrol.”
At our current home, the tree, or should I call it a large bush, outside our kitchen window can’t support a full feeder, so R and SPH made this simple bird feeder for the tree:
It is a simple recipe:
1 pine cone
¼ cup (give or take) peanut butter
½ cup (give or take) bird food
SPH tied some fishing line through the pine cone so it could be secured to the tree. Then R spread the peanut butter on the pine cone. Lastly, the peanut-y cone was rolled in the bird seed until it all stuck. R, G, SPH and I watched after the pine cone was hung for a bird to find it.
We waited…and waited…days passed and finally we saw the bird in the photo above. Sadly, the bird came when R was at school (hence the picture), but I tried to capture it for him. I was glad I had taken the photo because shortly after the birds found the cone, I took a new picture:
That’s right, the squirrels found the feeder too, hence the name “Squirrel Recipe.” The good news is that we found a new hook near a window in our backyard and we have hung a feeder. It’s been up for a good week, and so far, the only squirrels that are feeding off of it are on the ground, catching the overflow. Maybe we have finally found a squirrel-proof feeder?
SPC