Raccoon 1 vs. Squirrel-proof bird feeder 0

We've always enjoyed watching the frustration of the local squirrels as they attempted all manner of gyrations to get to the food in our big squirrel-proof bird feeder. We've had it for several years, and it's never failed us. The perch closes the feed bin if anything heavy lights on it, and the roof is slick and slanted so they can't perch there.

That's why we knew there was something wrong when all of a sudden about a pound and a half of seed disappeared overnight! None of our day visitors had figured out a system, and the numbers of birds visiting us has actually diminished lately. They're either all nesting or have moved to a cooler, wetter area. Obviously there was a mystery visitor.

Trail-cam to the rescue!

This little guy is tenacious if nothing else. He obviously was suspicious of the infrared flash, as he kept looking over at the camera, but it didn't seem to diminish his appetite any.

Even though the squirrels aren't big enough to perch on top and reach the food, this little guy is.

He hooks his back legs around the tree, or behind the feeder, and then shovels the grain in as fast as he can.

He drops a lot too, which I'm sure the doves enjoy.

You can imagine how much work it is to hang on like this, and the camera caught him doing a lot of turning around, slipping, readjusting his grip, and then back to eating.

The pictures here were selected out of a couple of hundred the camera caught, and aren't necessarily in order, but we can tell by the time stamps on the pictures he was up there for about an hour, and downed another pound of seed in that time. He did have to work pretty hard for it, but that doesn't help my birdseed budget much! 

After the first 30 minutes or so he gave up (see the 2:50 time stamp), climbed down the tree, then apparently thought about another snack (or perhaps he has a friend?) and by 3:16 (top photo) he was back at the table!

I'm thinking that he's getting cut off, and will have to be content with what he can pick up on the ground or in the compost from now on. At the rate he's going he's going to get fat, so I'm really just looking out for his health!

Coastal Texas

We're here on Mustang Island, near Corpus Christi, camping in the State Park. This is an amazing part of the state, and so definitely not what people think of when you say "Texas". In general, the area is wide, wide, wide and flat - flat - flat, and full of marshes and ocean waves! It's easy to see how hurricanes pick up so much speed and power as they  move into this area. There are salt marshes as far as you can see and if you look out over the ocean you'll see the occasional oil well.This is a far cry from the cactus-and-cattle most people envision, and yet the famous King Ranch is only a few miles away.

Kendra and Scott joined us for the weekend, along with the grandpuppies.
We spent the first afternoon exploring the beach here in the park and letting the dogs get their fill of wallowing in the seaweed and running in the waves - all except for Molly. She hates getting her feet wet, so she daintily sidestepped each wave as it rolled up on shore. The next day Scott's family took us fishing on the back bay - should say, fish feeding. They really enjoyed the bait shrimp we fed them! No fish to bring home, but we did have fun, and saw several interesting birds wading around in the shallows.

Sunday afternoon we took a short drive to Port Aransas, just to the north of the park. Former home to Karankawa Indians and pirates this little town is now a wonderland of colonial tropical architecture in the style of the Bahamas. At first all the houses look like they are three stories high, but it's the standard coastal architecture with garages on the bottom and two story living space on top - beautiful pastel colors with light or white trim. The colors are very refreshing, and a real contrast to the weathered gray and white we saw so much of on the Oregon coast. With palm trees everywhere, you could easily be on a tropical island. Most of the windows have hurricane shutters of one type or another, a constant reminder that we are in an area that has real "weather"! 
We drove around town and then stopped to slake our thirst at the Port Aransas brew pub, then headed back to camp after a brief stop for fuel (which included yours truly accidentally locking the keys in the truck - Onstar to the rescue!)

Monday we took a drive to the south, to the Padre Island National Seashore. This was a scouting trip to scope out future camping areas. We stopped in at the visitors' center just in time for a ranger-led walk on the beach. Ranger 'Buzz' did an excellent job of engaging all the children in the crowd, and teaching us all quite a bit about the wildlife in the area. The hour went by so quickly I could have sworn it had only been a few minutes!

Check out the album for photos of the area.

More home construction

I guess we both forgot our mothers' admonition to "Shut that door!". . . .  We'd both been in and out of the RV working on things, nice weather and no bugs, so the screen door got left open.  A few days later I went in to start loading for a trip and noticed a pile of twigs and leaves on the floor, in a chair, and as my view went up toward the ceiling, all over a shelf. Most of the collection was stuffed into a corner next to the radio charger..... a nice warm place to raise bird babies! Whether this is the same type of bird that built its nest in the bucket or not we'll never know, but we didn't give it a chance to finish and start laying eggs. You just never know how these critters are going to sneak up on you!