I look out into the front garden and see that the right most bird feeder's metal post is lying on its side. Jacques and I immediately go outside to start the investigation, camera at the ready just in case we see something juicy. At this stage we are both convinced it is a bear as what else would have the strength to push the post over. We are somewhat excited. We both check the ground and feeders for any kind of evidence. No visible footprints as the posts are in the grass. The metal post is not bent or broken. The baffle that keeps the squirrels from climbing the pole and getting to the feeders, is still in tact. The suet feeders that were hanging off the post are on the ground (empty) but not damaged in any way like a bear would do.
Eventual Conclusion: Ground is soggy after the rain and the post must have fallen over by itself. Birds and squirrels enjoyed finishing the suet before we had got ourselves out of bed, as it was on the ground and very easy to get to. Pole is re-seated and pushed firmly into the ground to prevent further mini/bear heart attacks.
Days Two to Seven
No incidents to report.
Day Eight
No incidents to report.
I am however very tired of feeding insane amounts of seed to Grackles and Cowbirds, so today I order a new seed feeder from Amazon - a hopper type that only the small birds will be able to access.
Day Nine
No incidents to report.
Day Ten
No incidents to report.
The new feeder arrived today from Amazon. I happily take down the two large feeders which have helped to empty my seed coffers and do some rearranging of feeders across my three posts. The left most one now has a Hummingbird feeder dangling from one "branch" and a new orange feeder for the Orioles hanging opposite it. The middle post now has a small platform feeder (the only place the larger birds can get seed) and a suet feeder. My right most post has another suet feeder (the upside down kind that only the woodpeckers can grab on to, so the suet lasts at least two weeks) and then my brand new seed hopper that the smaller birds can finally enjoy. Suet and seed are topped up late afternoon.
Day Eleven
When sitting down at my desk to work for the day, I notice that the upside down woodpecker suet feeder is hanging at an angle and empty. Not sure how this could be possible as I had filled it up the previous afternoon. I see the baffle is a little lower than normal so assume a squirrel managed to jump up over it and helped itself. I fill up the suet holder, completely forgetting to reset and tighten the baffle. None of the other posts or feeders have been touched so I'm somewhat puzzled but not concerned.
Day Twelve
This morning I am not happy to see that not only is the upside down suet feeder once again at an angle and empty, but my brand new seed hopper is on the ground and empty too. I curse the squirrels who I am convinced are working together to get over the baffle. I have a mental picture of a squirrel pyramid but don't think it's cute for a second. I mutter and rearrange the feeders once again. Thankfully my new feeder isn't damaged at all. The new seed hopper is moved to the middle post and the extra suet feeder is moved to the right post. I heighten the baffle and secure it whilst making sure it is suitably floppy.
Day Thirteen
Dammit! This morning both suet feeders are empty. I cannot figure out how anything is getting past the baffle and onto the feeders. I once again check and cannot see teeth marks or damage to the feeders. The suet is just gone. I decide to leave everything empty.
Day Fourteen
No incidents to report. I share my frustrations with my friend Anne and after going through a few options, she has an idea of who the culprit might be. I fill up just the one suet feeder to see how it goes tonight.
Day Fifteen
Guess what... The suet is gone this morning. The feeder has been picked apart but not harmed so I piece it together again. Instead of suet, I leave both feeders empty and instead put fruit on the feeder just before dark. I log onto Amazon and place an order for a wildlife camera with night vision.
Day Sixteen
Unsurprisingly the fruit disappeared overnight. The baffle is lower than normal which tells me something heavy must have pushed down on it. I check closely and see bits of apple lying on top of the baffle. Almost as if something had messily nibbled above it, dropping tiny bits in the process. I am not upset this morning at all. I fill both suet feeders so the birds have something to eat during the day but put a reminder on my phone to bring the feeders into the house before dark.
Around 8pm I bring the feeders in and I place a small piece of suet and half a corn on the cob (mealie) into the suet cage built onto the pole as it is hard to open so anything accessing it, will be forced to be creative. I can't wait to see what it looks like tomorrow morning. I find myself shining a light onto the feeder every now and again through the window just in case I catch the culprit in the act. I am excited that my wildlife cam is arriving tomorrow.
As I get into bed, I hear an excited call from another part of the house. Checking he house before bed, Jacques wandered over to the window, just to have one last check of course. I rush to the window and see a very nervous grey shadow sniffing around the bottom of the left hand post. An Opossum! Can this be the culprit? He's very skittish and quickly disappears into the shrubbery. Personally I think he is too short and can't see him getting over the baffle. Where is that camera?!
Day Seventeen
I wake up before dark and go for a short hike (okay, it was some early morning birding) so don't have time to check the feeders. When I get home, there's a Titmouse on the suet cage so I can't be sure if the suet and corn haven't been eaten by birds while I was out.
Making coffee, hubby casually mentions that he read for a bit before putting the light off last night and couldn't resist another peek before he turned in. A racoon was sniffing around the feeders and was reaching up to the right hand most baffle but was put off by the light so disappeared into the night. A racoon? Jacques is convinced this is our culprit but I am still wondering if he can get past the baffle.
The wildlife camera arrived with the mail around 2pm and I spend a little time setting it up. Then Jacques spends time actually setting it up properly :-)
I leave a suet feeder hanging from the post and the camera is mounted on a tripod and placed in the garden. Jacques does a few tests before we call it a night. Now we wait...
Day Eighteen
I let the dogs out early and see it is drizzling so skulk into the front garden in my pj's and bring the tripod in. The box says its waterproof but who really knows so I don't want to take a chance. I go back to bed.
I'm finally up and grab the SD card from the camera on the way to my desk. I put the card into the slot on my laptop and bring up the File Explorer to see what videos are waiting for me. There are a few blurry videos of Jacques setting up the camera last night and one of the corner of my pj's as I trigger the video while picking up the tripod. That's it! Ugh!
I glance through the window and see the roof of the once-again bare suet feeder is at an angle so I know the culprit was busy on top of the feeder last night. How frustrating. I will have to play more with the camera angles today to make sure it picks up all movement.
The camera is set up less than 2 metres away from the top of the feeder before we go to bed. Let's see what happens...
Day Nineteen
After a quick dash out in the rain this morning at 6am to collect the camera (yes, in my pj's again), I opened it up and left it to dry in the dining room before going back to bed. I patiently read in bed waiting for Jacques to wake up but eventually I couldn't hold out and got up to hopefully solve the mystery once and for all. Opening up the files on the SD Card, I was thrilled to see one at 3:07am. This had to be something. I eagerly click on the file and am immediately confronted with the bandit.
He is using his nimble fingers to open up the suet feeder and casually takes out the entire cake.
I do know that I'm not completely thrilled at the idea of a raccoon beating the baffle and eating about $20's worth of suet in a couple of weeks. I would however love to know how he does that.
Episode Two to follow...
