I've just pulled the No-Pest Strip from the entry hole of the screech owl nest box. It was full of dead bees, and there were no signs of live ones, so I think that a little more than two days of exposure to the fumes from the Strip has ensured that the hive is dead. There's no time to begin cleaning-out the box now. That’ll have to start (and, I hope, finish) this weekend. Perhaps, in the meantime, the squirrels will decide to check-out the box and do me the favor of helping themselves to the honey and comb, as they have in the past. One thing I don't know is whether the fumes from the Strip may have made any of that potential squirrel food toxic. Squirrels have an amazing sense of smell, however, and, with luck, if things don’t smell right to them, they’ll move on to their usual business of raiding my bird feeder.
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One step at a time, done!!! Looks like a nice weekend to work in the yard, ahem trees. Good luck
ReplyDeleteWhat a trial. I sure hope there will soon be owls residing in the box!
ReplyDeleteHmm, but the squirrels are greedy little b____s. They might ignore the vapor residue and just chow down on the homey anyway. Then you will get a crop of pest-strip resistant squirrels raiding the bird feeders ;-)
ReplyDeleteThank-you for your efforts, Chris.
A smallish but POd owl is chasing a fox squirrel with tacky feet and dead bees glued all over it, and is using echolocation to aid in the hunt. If the squirrel is 25 m from the owl, how long does it take sound to travel from the owl to the squirrel and back, taking into account, if appropriate, the mammal's viscosity?
ReplyDeletebtw those feeders, like the one in your photo? They don't stop the squirrels a bit, do they. My dad has them. I think only those rube goldberg contraptions that send rodents flying off on attractive airborne tangents may work. I'd just like to know how some animals can hang brain down and eat up into themselves, and others, like me, can't pull that off.
ReplyDelete"I'd just like to know how some animals can hang brain down and eat up into themselves, and others, like me, can't pull that off."
ReplyDeleteDale, I don’t think I've tried it, but I assume I wouldn’t be able to do it either. It's just one the lesser things I appreciate about squirrels. Chiefly, for me, it' their exceptional athleticism and acrobatic capabilities that impress me. Any mammal that can run upside down on the underside of a tree limb, just shouldn't be taken for granted, IMHO. So, I'm happy to have them around. On the other hand, I don't begrudge any visiting Red Tailed Hawk, or other native raptor, it's share of my furry friends. After all, my bird feeder should be feeding birds - even that means it is feeding them squirrels.