Little Red............................

This year is the first time in all the years I have lived here in town that I have ever seen a Red Squirrel. What a cute little bugger. They are 1/2 the size of the grey or black squirrel that is more than common here. They are also destructive.
It is scary to have rodents in the house simply because they can chew through wires and cause fires. I am not at all worried about disease, that is hardly an issue. The most likely place that they will be found or rather heard is in the attic. Our house is a prime residence for critters. We have yet to renew the siding. It's an old house, built originally in the late 1800s. It has been added to and remodeled over the years. At this point it is in between being remodeled and finished.
We have old siding, when we added on to the house we put some temporary siding on the new part. Where the two comes together there are patches with broken shingles a good entry point. In fact, we had Starlings nesting in the eves. Oh leave them I said, wait till the babies leave I said...................she had at least 3 batches of kids that year. The noise at daybreak running hither and yon feeding babies. Ahuh. We blocked that up in the Fall and was done with that. We do have mice but the cats pretty much keep them in the nether regions. Unlike years ago when the resident cats only played with them. We would take them away from the cats and put them outside and feed them. Hey, they were cute.
Back to the Red Squirrels.

Look at that face. I know when my neighbour Bud sees them he will have a fit. He live traps as many squirrels as he can catch and moves them out to the woods.

These Red squirrels are super fast. They seem to never sit still for more than a few seconds. Well, Little Red has a friend. I saw it the other day. Two of them, that means babies right? I can't wait to hear what Bud has to say.

I had a bird feeder hanging out that I really liked. It was strong steel mesh, quite thick. I could not believe that squirrels chewed through it and wrecked it. Now I know who.........they are called chain saws on legs. The Red Squirrel.
I really didn't think the regular squirrels did it because those feeders have been there for years.

I know the regular guys are destructive but it's always been wood that they have chewed through. Never the wire mesh. Now I know who is responsible. They are so much fun to watch though. My regular squirrels come in Grey and Black. The blacks are smaller but more agressive. They chase off the bigger greys.

The small reds do not go near the other ones. In fact I have not seen them on the hanging feeders only briefly on the other ones. They tend to grab what's on the ground, especially when I put out bread and seem happy with that. For now...........wonder what will happen come Spring?