there are givers and there are takers

I love to hate the greedy, voracious, comical, agile, obstreperous grey squirrels that come to the feeders we provide for them.

We also feed the birds, a wide variety of birds; cardinals, blue jays, grackles, doves, gold and purple finches, rose breasted grosbeaks, Baltimore Orioles, various sparrows, nuthatches, black capped chickadees, Robins, and, of course the chipmunk who cleans up any mess left on the ground.

Even though we provide a feeder specifically for the squirrels, they think every feeder is theirs to empty. And with their unparalleled appetites, they never stop eating and raiding until all the feeders are empty.  I understand survival of the fittest, and it's there to see with the birds too.  But the aggressive grey warriors are so intimidating to the birds they make otherwise raucous Jay's and grackles seem adorable.  Well maybe not adorable but they gain my sympathy when appearing as the underdogs.  Plus I think blue jays are beautiful.

Having resorted to putting up squirrel proof feeders we now get to enjoy the squirrel's frustrating antics trying to access those feeders.