We love to feed the birds; and have…\num… lemme see… five feeders. Two for the hummingbirds, one suet\nfeeder for the woodpeckers (and whoever else shows up), one filled\nwith thistle seed for the finches, and one full of mixed seeds for\neverybody else. All except the mixed seeds feeder require visitors\nto land and feed directly on the feeder. The mixed seeds are a\ndifferent story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Almost all birds will visit the seeds\nfeeder at one time or another. Some, like rose breasted grosbeaks,\nare dainty and perch on the little ledge to get their meals. They\njust nibble out of the little tray and then will find a nugget of\nchoice and fly away with it. Others, like blue jays, will toss seeds\nout of the feeder until they find what they want. We call blue jays\nthe \u201cpunk rockers\u201d of birds because of their flamboyant plumage\nand mannerisms. They and others like starlings and grackles used to\nannoy us greatly with their dumping of the seeds; but then we\nrealized that they give all the ground feeding birds a nice\nsmorgasbord from which to choose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only one problem with all that seed on\nthe ground. It attracts mammals. Bunnies, squirrels, and even\nraccoons will stop at the base of the feeder and get their fill. \nThat can be cute if they all behave themselves, but until we took\nseveral \u201canti-squirrel\u201d measures, we’d often come home to a\nfeeder that was full in the morning but emptied to the ground by\nafternoon. Thankfully, that’s no longer a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There’s one \u201ccute\u201d little critter\nspecies, however, that has become quite an annoyance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chipmunks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They’re cute alright. Kinda colorful\nmarkings too. But if you are married and your wife has an interest\nin raising flowers in the vicinity of the bird feeder, they can\nbecome quite a nuisance. They love to burrow, you see. And too\noften, the soft soil of my Beautiful Girlfriend’s flower bed is very\naccommodating to their tunneling habits. Only problem with that is: \nplants don’t like having their roots exposed to the air. So my Sweet\nLovely Bride will toil and place her plants just so, only to have\nsome of them die because of burrowing rascal rodents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s very obvious that these little dirt monkeys are the culprits. They pop out of nowhere when we’re walking near the flower beds; and then we see the little hole from which they zoom in and out. Their activities have not made my Amazing Love very happy at all; and she has resorted to calling them foul names. \u201cWhy the *@#! do they dig in my *@#!ing flower beds??\u201d she asked not too long ago. Being the dutiful hubby I am, I looked it up on the interwebs, then conveyed what should have been an obvious answer: they like seeds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We’ve been feeding birds for many\nmoons, but the chipmunk problem is relatively recent. There are\npredators that keep them in check; and we’ve been raising whole\nfamilies of those for many moons too. They’re called kitty cats. \nOur cats have always been allowed outside; and for almost all of her\n21 \u00bd years our beautiful calico, Never Anne, would keep their\nnumbers down. That baby killed pretty much anything that moved!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, Nevvie is gone to the Big Kitty\nCat Playground In The Sky. We do have Freddy the Freeloader; he’s\nour one and only kitty now (we’ve often had several at a time). \nFreddy was a feral who adopted us; and although he knows how to hunt,\nhe seems to have become rather fat and lazy these days. It’s very\npossible he’s spoiled. Our family does not use poison baits, so\nsince Freddy wasn’t bringing us any dead chipmunks, I started waging\nwar on them with more humane methods. Stomping their tunnels \u2013\nthey just dig again. Flooding with water \u2013 lasts a little longer\nbut pretty much the same result as stomping. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then finally <\/strong><\/em>the\nlight came on. The water seemed to work alright, I just needed to\nadd a little something to it. Something like used kitty litter!! \nThe clumping kind works very well for this. So I filled a plastic\nbucket with water, then started dumping in the kitty droppings. Let\nit set for a couple days so it gets nice and stinky. Stir it with a\nstick, taste it to make sure it’s… NO!!! NO TASTING!!! GACK!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can probably guess the next step. Chipmunks do NOT like kitty cat stinkwater. Gee, I wonder why?? So my new and improved control method is to douse the offending burrows with Kitty Kaka And Wee Wee Nasty Juice Mixture Surprise. Hey… maybe I should bottle it and start marketing the stuff!! Anyway, for good measure, I make sure some of the solids go down the hole too. Very effective!! This might gross some of you out, but please keep in mind that we don’t eat what grows in the flower beds. And if there’s any fresh stinkwater application, I make sure to warn my Honey Pie so she can remember to wear gloves while doing her garden work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Feel\nfree to use this recipe at your house. One thing to keep in mind\nthough: mosquitoes do not seem to care what kind of water they lay\neggs in. That’s right kids, I’ve actually seen mosquito larvae in\nthe stinkwater bucket!! After seeing that, I make sure to check\nregularly; and dump all the water before the larvae can mature. God\nonly knows what nasty diseases such creatures would carry if they\nhatch out of such nastiness!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We still have chipmunks stuffing their faces at the base of the bird feeder; but at least they’re not messing up my Baby’s flowerbed. They don’t look anything like the ones that Disney made famous in cartoons. Here are those two chipmunks who are famous for their shenanigans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n