Fly By Night
A few weeks ago, the Unindicted Co-Conspirator and I stopped by the Bird Watcher’s General Store in Orleans, on the inner elbow of Cape Cod. (If you’re driving down Route 6, take the rotary to 6A and it’s just up on your right by Nauset Fish & Lobster, which is the best fish market on the Cape, but that’s another story.) We got some good advice and left with a gallon jug of shelled sunflower seeds (no muss, no fuss, and virtually all the local birds can eat them) and a big guaranteed certified warrantied squirrel-proof bird feeder. It’s a beauty, cleverly designed to keep seed safe and dry, hanging from a thin cable supported by an equally thin rod. Four birds at a time can feed on it but the whole thing slides shut when the weight of a squirrel hits it. Not that they don’t try.
We’re usually only down here on the weekends, so I’ve been filling it on Sunday afternoon and come back to find it empty the following Friday. The birdies must be voracious, I thought. They do seem to line up in the oak tree to get in. We’ve seen black-capped chickadees (our state bird), nuthatches, titmice, goldfinches, house finches, song sparrows, black-eyed juncos, the downy woodpecker and the hairy woodpecker, brilliant cardinals, plump little wrens, bluejays, and even a large and menacing-looking blackbird all right up close on our deck. Mourning doves come in and feed on the spillage. As I write there are two house finches doing a little mating dance where the male is trying to feed the female. Our pet cockatiels, who have been thin all their long lives, are fascinated by them and being flock animals, are eating more because they see other birds eating.
Today is a state holiday in Massachusetts (and Maine, which was part of Massachusetts during the historical period being remembered). When I went to bed last night, the feeder was still a good two-thirds full. When I got up this morning, it was nearly empty.
Birds don’t feed at night, at least seed-eating birds don’t. I’ve watched the squirrel try and fail too many times to think he could be the culprit. Raccoons are clever, but the feeder is out of their heavy-bodied reach. So who is eating all the birdseed?
I checked back in with the informative folks at the Bird Watcher’s General Store and was amazed. The culprit is almost certainly flying squirrels. I didn’t know we had them up here. They’re small, light-bodied, and they fly by night. They’re also squirrels, which means they’re insatiable. They are the only creature that can beat the squirrel-proof feeder. They’re also cute as buttons.
The Unindicted Co-Conspirator is googling for night-vision googles. I’m off to buy more seed.