There are two species of squirrels pillaging the bird feeders. The Eastern Gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis/i>) and the American Red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). The Red squirrel is generally viewed as a pest by local home owners because they’re notorious for invading homes and feasting on insulation (which they also use for nest materials) and the coating on wires (which often results in destroying home wiring systems).
The Eastern gray is the one that’s particularly greedy about bird seed; there are at least six individuals who regularly patrol, and I’ve seen as many as six at a time attempting to raid the feeders. They can’t really reach the seeds effectively because of the nature of the tube feeders.
But they’re perfectly willing to try.
There’s also a single American Red squirrel visiting the feeders, though it usually spends most of its time on the ground, gleaning, it’s not above attempting the suet.
There are, by the way, mutated Gray squirrels, that, via a mutation, exhibit melanism and appear black, in other parts of Maine. They have black squirrels in Lincoln county, ME. We have black squirrels in Western Washington too.
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