Yesterday's Culprit

My brother suggested that the reddish tree squirrel caught in the act of raiding our suet and seed feeders in yesterday's post was likely a Fox Squirrel, Scirus niger.  Although they're not native to Southern California, they were introduced in the early 1900s and are apparently thriving here.  The article in the link suggests that this may be so because they have adapted to an environment interrupted by human habitation, and will eat things that the native Western Gray Squirrels won't.  Here's the link again:  https://baynature.org/2019/05/28/are-fox-squirrels-replacing-gray-squirrels-in-california/.

Fox Squirrel

This is the time of year that Big Mama, the matriarch of the local California Ground Squirrel population, usually produces her latest litter, but we haven't seen her yet this year.  She may have reached the end of her normal life span, or the very handsome Gopher Snake that inhabits our canyon may have taken her out. Or they might just be late this year.

Ground Squirrel 

This was Big Mama in her heyday several years ago with some of her brood.  The Ground Squirrels are more gray than the Fox Squirrel and the juveniles have white spots on their backs.  Their tails are also skinnier than the fluffy plume the Fox Squirrel sports.

The Ground Squirrels are the main reason Cindy built the panel system around the raised beds; they like tomatoes and blue berries as well as bird seed.  The panel system has worked very well at keeping them away from the veggies, and we're hoping it will keep the Fox Squirrel out, too.

Mystery of the Disappearing Suet

We noticed that the cake of suet in the suet feeder on our bird feeder pole was disappearing at a rapid clip, but thought it was due to the combined efforts of the California Thrasher and the Scrub Jay that often visit the feeder.  The crows seem to have given up on it since we stopped putting a pillar with seeds, nuts and bugs embedded in it, but we know the Thrasher in particular likes the suet.  

But this morning I looked out and saw another prime suspect at work on the suet.  Yep, it's a squirrel.  

Caught In The Act!

This one doesn't seem to be the usual California Ground Squirrel; this one looks more like a tree squirrel of some sort, with a bigger, fluffier tail than the Ground Squirrels have.  

You Lookin' At Me?

And, not satisfied with plundering the suet block, the furry acrobat moved on to investigate the seed feeder and the Nyger seed, too.  We had fun watching him getting to the goodies.

Squirrel Acrobatics

So how did the squirrel get past the baffle?  Easy--the Grevillea next to the feeder pole has grown to the size that any self-respecting tree squirrel can easily use as a stairway to paradise, or at least as a launching pad to get to the goodies.  

Overgrown Grevillea

I'm guessing there may be some pruning in the future of that shrub.  

Salad Bar

Cindy had the members of her Seed-Starting Guild over a couple of weeks ago to plant some seeds for winter crops.  Their idea was to each start some of the same seeds at the same time, take them home and then compare notes about how the plants progressed.

Winter crops, such as the broccoli, Brussels sprouts, beets and cabbage she planted, prefer cool weather, so when we had a warm spell a few days later, she brought them into the house and I got to babysit them on my desk for a couple of days before she took them back outside.

Sprouts Up

They were doing very well, germinating in a few days and beginning to develop true leaves.  But then it got hot again, and Cindy took the tray out of the little green house we made out behind the garage, thinking it would be too hot in there for them.

Looking Good

She left the tray on the platform that holds our rain barrels, and when she came back a couple of hours later, she was saddened to find a scene of complete devastation.

But Not Much Left

Some varmint, probably one of the many California Ground Squirrels, had decided to treat the tray as its own private micro-green salad bar.  Almost everything had been chewed off at the roots, not yanked out as if the birds had done it, so it was most likely a veggie-loving squirrel.

The only thing the critter didn't eat was the Arugula.

Of Course...

Of course, we're not the only ones around here who love blueberries.  Most of our blueberry bushes are protected by Cindy's anti-varmint panels from attack from the ground and by bird netting from depredations by marauding California Towhees, who like a little fruit with their bird seed.

The three bushes in pots in front of the garage, on the other hand, have no protection.  I was looking out the window the other day and saw the leaves of one of those bushes being agitated as if by the wind, but there was no wind blowing.

And then I noticed that Big Mama, the matriarch of the California Ground Squirrel population, seems to have produced her annual brood serially this year instead of all at once as she usually does.

That means that she now has some adolescent juvenile delinquents as well as a couple of very cute baby squirrels just out of the den, and she's teaching all of them where the free bird seed buffet is located.

Big Mama and Brood

Unfortunately, it also means that the juveniles have started ranging a bit further out and have discovered....Blueberries!

Fortunately, we collected most of the blueberries from the the garage bushes before the squirrels finally stripped them, and we also had a very good yield from the bushes in the protected area, too.

Spuds!

I do love potatoes.  Yes, I do.  So I was very happy when Cindy harvested these out of one of the grow bags out behind the fence.

New Crop of Potatoes

She initially left them on a tray on the ground outside to dry off, so that it would be easier to brush the remaining dirt off, but I've seen Big Mama, the matriarch of the California Ground Squirrel colony, busily scarfing up bird seed under the bird feeder recently.  She's obviously bulking up in preparation for delivering her next litter.

I'm not sure how Big Mama feels about potatoes, but we decided to move them into the garage to dry; she's not getting these spuds.

Big Mama's Brood

Our neighbor sent me a text the other day to the effect that there was a rabbit in one of our vegetable beds.  Knowing the damage a rabbit could do to the growing tomato plants, I grabbed my camera and went quietly out to the garden to see if I could catch the varmint in the act in one of the protected raised beds.

When I got out there, all I saw was a California Towhee scratching away in the vacant soil in the long  raised bed, but no sign of a critter and no damage to the tomato plants (they can have the kale, as far as I'm concerned).  A short time later she sent another text saying it was a squirrel, not a rabbit.

Ahhhhh, mystery solved.  Big Mama, the matriarch of the resident California Ground Squirrel population, has produced her usual Spring brood of babies; we've only seen four this year, not up to her record of seven from three years ago.  See "Baby Boom".

Fur-Covered Vacuum Cleaners

As usual, she's taught the babies where the free bird seed buffet is located under the main bird feeder, although she herself prefers the tastier and more expensive Niger seed under the separate feeder we have for the Lesser Goldfinches.  That feeder is in one of the open beds, so that's probably what Kathleen saw.  The squirrels are welcome to clean up the loose seed; otherwise we'd probably have canyon rats after it.

Happy Mother's Day, Big Mama.  Enjoy the bird seed, and stay away from the tomatoes.

They're Baaaack.

Four Young Squirrels

The California Ground Squirrels have reappeared in force lately; we thought the Gopher Snake had wiped them out completely,  but we began seeing them again a couple of weeks ago under our bird feeder.

We found Big Mama Squirrel inside the enclosure for the avocado tree and then we discovered that they had also found a way to get under the anti-varmint panels around the raised beds and chewed their way through the bird netting around the blueberry plants and absconded with most of the remaining blueberries.

They're cute, but they're also voracious.

Too Good To Be True

Avocado Tree

Well, we should have known that it was too good to be true when we thought the California Ground Squirrels had all been wiped out by the large Gopher Snake a couple of weeks ago.  We were actually feeling sorry for the squirrels.  We should have known that the apparent Lone Survivor was actually just an advance scout.

Yesterday Cindy saw Big Mama and a smaller squirrel out under the bird feeder stuffing themselves with birdseed and thought, "Aw, how cute they are."

Later we were sitting on the patio and Cindy said, "Why is the top of the avocado tree vibrating?"  We went tearing out to it and saw Big Mama inside the the plastic fencing around the avocado tree; she panicked when she saw us and swiftly hauled her ample posterior up over the fencing and scrambled off into the shrubbery, leaving behind her a couple of broken branches on the tree.

That small tree has been struggling ever since we planted it last year and recently something has been eating the new leaves that had set on it.  We suspected that it was a June Bug, but since we caught Big Mama in the act it's pretty clear that at least some of the damage is attributable to her.

However, worse was yet to come; when we returned later in the afternoon, we found a note from the neighbors informing us that they had seen the squirrels inside the bird netting around the blueberry bushes.

That's when we found out that they had eaten most of the blueberry crop.

What's Left of the Blueberry Crop

We're not thinking they're so cute now.

Lone Survivor?

One Survivor?

Well, it appears that at least one California Ground Squirrel escaped the attack of the Gopher Snake on the nest.

We had been wondering why we hadn't seen any squirrels this Spring; we saw Big Mama out under the feeder in February, which usually means she's raising another brood, but since then we had not seen any of them until we saw this one under the bird feeder.  We thought that the snake had wiped them all out, but it looks like at least one escaped.

These varmints are so prolific that even if a nest is wiped out, others soon move into the vacant burrow and set up housekeeping.  And soon they're all over the place again, eating everything they can reach.

This one looks pretty young, but at least he now knows where the free birdseed buffet is to be found.

Just stay away from the tomatoes and the blueberries.

Who's Home?

A New Varmint Hole

Cindy has been waging a fierce battle with gophers in the raised beds out behind the garage, so when she found this new hole in the planter beside the garage, her first conclusion was that the gophers had moved around to the side of the garage.

However, I'm thinking it's probably not gophers; the one we saw filching blades of grass up at Temecula a couple of weeks ago (see Black Friday, No Thanks) was very careful to fill the hole up behind him when he had enough vegetation, whereas this varmint has brazenly left the doorway wide open.

Also, the gophers left neat mounds along the course of their tunnels, while this critter just scattered the dirt from the hole all over the planter, burying several other plants.

So this varmint is probably our old nemesis, the California Ground Squirrel.

I'm just hoping they haven't completely undermined the garage by now.

Still Around

What Are YOU Looking At?

We were having lunch out on our patio today when Cindy drew my attention to a California Ground Squirrel who had screeched to a halt and plopped down to chew on some seeds on the garden wall about ten feet from our table.

I couldn't believe how bold this guy was, but he seemed right at home, eating his snack and taking a very short nap on the cool stone wall.

Then he was off again, scampering up the driveway to find more seeds, I guess.

Nap Time

So there are still a few squirrels around; the fox and the hawk haven't taken all of them out.  However, they now seem to be much more cautious, staying under cover or at least out of exposed positions.

Anyway, he wasn't afraid of us, since he obviously knew he could be long gone if we made a move toward him.

Still Around

I saw one of the junior California Ground Squirrels under the bird feeder this afternoon, vacuuming up birdseed as fast as he could.  This is the first one we've seen for several days.  This one looked more wary than they have in the past, stopping to raise his head every couple of bites to look around and scan the surroundings for threats to his well being.  They've been pretty bold in the past, even letting us get within about ten feet of them while they're sucking up our expensive bird seed, so this is different behavior.

Eventually this one jumped up on the garden wall and sat there munching the seed he had stored in his cheeks, keeping a sharp lookout while he did.

Then he decided he wanted some veggies with his cereal.  He dashed into the driveway and started climbing over the plastic fencing around the tomato, but apparently either thought better of it or heard a noise that frightened him, so he quickly beat a hasty retreat.

We still don't know why suddenly there are so few of them around, whether it's the presence of the Gray Fox poop under the feeder or whether they've grown to the point where Big Mama finally kicked them out of the nest, but now we know there's at least one still around who remembers where the tomatoes are and how to get to them.

New Mystery

Shortly after I hoisted the white flag in yesterday's post signaling surrender to the squirrels on the contested tomato and tomatillo plants, Cindy pointed out to me that she hadn't seen a single squirrel all day.

We kept a watch out and didn't see any squirrels the rest of the day, even under the bird feeder.  Since she had just reloaded the feeder and the Sparrows, House Finches and Scrub Jays had been patronizing it heavily, which meant there was plenty of seed scattered on the ground, the absence of squirrels was unusual.  In fact, it was downright spooky.

So where are they?  Is there a California Ground Squirrel convention in town this week?  Have they all gone to the beach for 4th of July?  Has the Gray Fox managed to take out the entire squirrel burrow population in one night?  Has some idiotic neighbor poisoned them all?

Fox Poop?

Later in the evening I walked down to look at the bird feeder and discovered a clue:  what looks a lot like fox poop directly beneath the feeder.  Hmmmm.  It looks like Mr. Gray Fox has claimed the feeder as his territory.

Since male gray foxes apparently have a very strong scent, that may be what is scaring the squirrels away.  I told Cindy that we should move the poop over to the driveway, away from the feeder and see if the squirrels reappear.  If they do come back the fox poop might keep them away from those tomatoes.

It's kind of a weird feeling in the garden without them scampering around.  We've become used to their presence and especially the acrobatic antics of the young ones.

We kind of miss them when they're not here.

We Give Up

Need I Say More?

O.K., we surrender.  We've finally admitted that we can't effectively protect the tomato and the tomatillo in the grow bags in front of the garage from the depredations of the California Ground Squirrels.

They climbed over the temporary fencing, chewed through the pantyhose Cindy had put over some of the tomatoes, and came back again and again the raid those two bushes.

The bad news is that there's really no place to move those two plants to protect them any better; the good news is that the other tomato plants are doing so well that pretty soon we're going to be up to our kneecaps in ripe tomatoes.  We've already had BLTs, tomatoes in sandwiches, tomato sauce and tomatoes for breakfast.

I told Cindy that pretty soon she's going to be throwing tomatoes at the squirrels, urging them to eat some.  She says, "Never!"  She'll take the excess tomatoes and make tomato sauce out of them, then freeze it and we'll have it all winter long.

In fact, we're currently trying to finish up some of the veggies she froze last year before the beans, zucchini and pumpkin start producing this year.  It looks like the garden is going to produce lots and LOTS of produce this year.

Tomato Forest

Cindy planted most of the tomatoes this year in the oldest and largest of the raised beds, and they seem to like that environment.  In fact, the plants have grown so large that it's rapidly becoming a tomato forest.

Some of the plants are even drooping over the sides of the anti-varmint protective panels, and there are already lots of tomatoes forming on the plants.  LOTS of tomatoes.

Which, of course, makes them attractive to varmints.  Yesterday morning I looked out the back window at the bird feeder and saw Big Mama and three of the junior ground squirrels under the feeder stuffing their faces with bird seed.

I don't know what's become of the other four baby squirrels from this litter (see Baby Boom); maybe Mr. Gray Fox is starting to make some in-roads on the pack, but at least three of them are still alive, well and eating everything in sight, including any of the tomatoes and tomatillos they can get at.  We found a half-gnawed green tomato at a gap between the anti-varmint panels around the tomato forest in the largest raised bed; there was just enough room for this tomato to push into, and just enough room for the squirrel to eat about half of it.

Since these tomatoes are all plants Cindy has hand-raised from seed, we need to find a way to plug that gap pronto, or else the squirrel pack will find a way to get in and there really won't be any tomatoes for us.

We Might Have Known

We should have known that the temporary fencing around the tomato in the grow bag would not prove to be much of an obstacle to the California Ground Squirrels.

We went out again yesterday evening and found that they had climbed over the fencing, chewed through the nylon Cindy had put around one of the tomatoes they had chomped previously, and then, apparently not liking the taste of nylon, moved on to take a bite out of one of the green tomatoes.  The varmints also left a half-eaten green Tomatillo in the driveway, too.

Tomatillo

I love the Chinese-lantern shape of these Tomatillos, which are also planted in a grow bag in front of the garage.  The paper thin outer husk covers the developing fruit inside, as we were well able to see from the cross section left for us by the squirrels.

We may have to re-think the grow bags; there's just no way to protect the plants and the tomatoes and tomatillos on them from the varmints.

The problem is that right now there is just no vacant space in the garden where we can move these plants so that they would be inside one of the enclosures protected by the anti-varmint panels.  All the spaces are now planted with other tomatoes, squash and beans.

We will have plenty of fresh produce this summer, but it's still annoying to have the varmints start sampling it before we get any of it.

When Will We Ever Learn?

I had planned to take a picture this morning of the tomatoes that Cindy had planted in the blue grow bag and put in front of the garage door.

The plant is from a cutting of the very vigorous plant from last year that she finally had to tear out earlier this year to make room for more plants.  She rooted the cutting, planted it in the grow bag and hooked it up to her drip irrigation system.

The plant has continued to be vigorous and is now loaded with tomatoes, including two that were getting redder and plumper by the day.  We thought they weren't quite ripe yet, but thought they would be ready in a couple of days and Cindy put BLTs on the menu for next week.   First tomatoes of the season, yum.

So last night when I went out to bring in the key to the garage, I took another look at the two ripening tomatoes.  And noticed something missing.

Like a honkin' big chomp missing out of each of the two ripening tomatoes.  Guess the squirrels thought they were ripe enough.

So we did the traditional closing of the barn door after the horses, or in this case the tomatoes, were gone.  Cindy put some old panty hose over the biggest tomatoes, including the bitten ones, and we circled some of the plastic fencing around the bag and closed it with clothes pins.

Not that that will really stop the little varmints, of course, but if they go for those particular tomatoes again, they'll just get a mouthful of nylon.

We'll probably see them wearing the nylons around the yard next.  Or see them on the news sticking up convenience stores.  We'll know who they are by the tomato seeds on their furry little nylon-covered chins.

Slug Trails

Slug Rampant

The slugs that damaged the potato plants a few weeks ago are not too difficult to manage.  If there are just a few, they can be picked off by hand.  If there are more, a product like Sluggo, which is biodegradable and safe to use around pets, can get rid of them.

Cindy harvested a head of lettuce the other day and found three slugs on the leaves.  Ugh.

We took those lettuce leaves out and put them under the bird feeder to provide a little treat for the ground feeder birds, especially the Brown Towhees, the Spotted Towhees and the California Thrashers.  We don't know who got the slugs, but the next morning both the slugs and the lettuce leaves were completely gone, so somebody cleaned it up for us.

One of the old traditional methods of getting rid of slugs and snails is to put some beer out in a shallow dish; the slugs crawl in, drink the beer and drown.  End of slugs.

However, we won't be using that method for two reasons:  first, we prefer to drink the beer ourselves, and second, we don't even want to think how much damage a pack of drunken California Ground Squirrels could do to the garden.

UC Integrated Pest Management Pest Notes--Slugs and Snails

Squirrel Training

Selecting His Salad

O.K., we WISH we could train the California Ground Squirrels that threaten to overrun our yard (see "Baby Boom") to eat weeds and grasses and stay away from our veggies, but we thought this little guy was making a good start.  

The baby squirrels are getting bigger every day, thanks mostly to the quantities of bird seed they are consuming, but this little one spent quite a while chewing on grasses.

I guess he likes a little variety to his diet.  That's fine as long as he sticks to weeds.

Baby Boom

Squirrel Babies

We returned from our trip to the Midwest to discover Big Mama Squirrel camped out under the bird feeder accompanied by first two, then four, now seven baby ground squirrels.

Big Mama is looking a bit frazzled; her fur is not up to its usual sleekness, but I guess that's to be expected when she has a brood this big to look after.  At least we're hoping that this is the last of the brood; seven is already way too many.

I Wonder What's Up There?

Big Mama has already taught them where the free buffet is to be found, and they're already taking full advantage of it.  Cindy even saw her chase off a crow that landed under the feeder.

It's fun to watch the babies learn to explore the world.  One of them even tried to climb the bird feeder pole, apparently unaware that the baffle on the pole is there to prevent them from doing just that.

I guess we can't complain about the squirrel population explosion when we provide all this food for them; why should they go anywhere else?

Going Up!

One thing is certain:  we'll have to make sure our anti-varmint protective shields remain secure for the rest of the growing season, or there will definitely be no veggies left for us this summer.