Day 315: Over the last two or three years, I have been steadily relocating Douglas squirrels to suitable habitats at least two miles and one river crossing from my home. While I seem to have won the Squirrel War, I failed to take into account the fact that I was opening up the area to another pesky little rodent, Townsend's Chipmunk (Neotamias townsendii). These cute little troublemakers aren't destructive like squirrels. They don't get into your attic to gnaw your electric wiring; they live in burrows rather than taking over bird nests and woodpecker holes. Their diet consists of seeds, fruit and fungi rather than the nuts and bird's eggs preferred by squirrels, but they do have a penchant for emptying my bird feeders of black-oil seed, and that, my budget will not abide. I knew I had two and managed to live-trap one in short order using date bits as bait. The second one proved more difficult, and my raspberries were disappearing before they could ripen completely. Eventually, the stripy little critter couldn't resist sampling dried plums, and was rewarded with a trip to a nearby trail system. Within half an hour of having reset the trap ("just in case"), I stood at my window muttering, "It's like trying to dip the ocean dry with a teaspoon!" as a third Townsend's Troublemaker scrabbled up the metal bird-feeder pole after the fresh supply of seed. Mango...I wonder if that's what he's waiting for?
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