New Post

This is my new post!!!!

Max
http://squirrelproject.blogspot.com/

New video 2

Max
http://squirrelproject.blogspot.com/

NEW VIDEO!!!!

Max
http://squirrelproject.blogspot.com/

how squirrels lean!

Check this out!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4119462746214547887&q=squirrel


Max
http://squirrelproject.blogspot.com/

The battle is neverending with squirrels, fire ants

When we lived in California, squirrels were everywhere. They particularly loved the food in our bird feeders and were constantly seen there nibbling away quite comfortably.

We hung them a distance from our deck, but the little rascals simply jumped from our roof with unerring accuracy, never missing the bird feeders.

We tried every remedy offered by pet shops but nothing seemed to work. We were fast losing the pleasant sounds of our local bird population.

In fact, there was one in particular that had two babies and had the gall to bring them over to our deck to babysit while she terrorized the neighbors.

We learned that this was not simply our problem but that it existed statewide. There was even some talk of bringing in the National Guard. We felt this was a job for homeland security; however, our pleas fell on deaf ears and the squirrels organized into neighborhood cells to combat any threat to their well being.

Our neighborhood cell met regularly on our rooftop but we could never understand what sort of outrage was next on their list, so we did what we had to do.

We moved to South Carolina, and seem to be squirrel free. Perhaps that is due to the many dogs and cats patrolling our area.

But now we have been introduced to another annoyance - fire ants, a new pestilence for us and one that is also quite painful.

My wife, Teddy, is an enthusiastic gardener, but every time she starts to plant a new bed of flowers the little buggers say no and she is made painfully aware of their presence.

They seem to have an uncanny ability to nest wherever you feel that flowers should be growing.

We have used every fire ant killer available and have successfully destroyed some of their nests, but they simply move to a new location and replenish their population.

At this point, we are convinced that they, much like the squirrels of California, are simply indestructible and we may be forced to once again give up and move to the arctic circle, where we understand there are no squirrels or fire ants.
Max
http://squirrelproject.blogspot.com/

Jojo

Max
http://squirrelproject.blogspot.com/

Max
http://squirrelproject.blogspot.com/

Dead squirrel in San Luis Obispo County tests positive for plague

MORRO BAY, Calif. Health officials in San Luis Obispo County say people heading outdoors should stay away from rodents, after a dead squirrel found in Morro Bay tested positive for plague.

Dr. Gregory Thomas, with the county's health department, says visitors to campgrounds, parks and other wilderness areas should remain cautious.
The plague is transmitted to rodents by fleas.
Thomas says that since 1970 there have been 39 confirmed cases of plague in people in California.
If contracted by humans, the disease can be deadly.

Max
http://squirrelproject.blogspot.com/

Voracious grey squirrel 'is greatest threat to songbirds'

he grey squirrel and the domestic cat are preventing the recovery of Britain's songbirds, which were devastated by intensive farming and the removal of hedges in the post-war years, says a new report.






The report says that in areas of high grey squirrel density, 93 per cent of small bird nests are raided
Of the two introduced predators, the grey squirrel kills more young songbirds than the cat.

The findings of the report, commissioned by the charity, SongBird Survival, are likely to challenge the received wisdom about the decline in songbird populations since the 1950s and what has prevented many from recovering over the past 15 years when farmers have been using fewer chemicals and participating in green farming schemes.

The author of the report, Prof Roy Brown, of Birkbeck, University of London, estimates that overall some 180 million adult songbirds, or their eggs and young are killed by mammals every year - chiefly squirrels, cats and rats.

That is out of an estimated natural population of 260 million of the main 15 songbird species - blackbird, song thrush, blue tit, great tit, robin, skylark, meadow pipit, wren, dunnock, whitethroat, greenfinch, chaffinch, yellowhammer, reed bunting and corn bunting.

The report says that in areas of high grey squirrel density, 93 per cent of small bird nests are raided. Where this is combined with sparrow hawk activity, it can result in 100 per cent breeding failure and a loss of 85 per cent of adult songbirds.

Prof Brown, who reviewed a wealth of information on the causes of songbird deaths said yesterday: "It looks as if 60 per cent of all breeding activity is being knocked out by predation.

"I would say the problem is now predation - on a par with other factors that are still there."

Prof Brown accepts the results of the many research projects that have shown that the principle reason for the decline in the farmland birds over the past 40 years was agricultural intensification and the removal of hedges.

Yet he believes that it is wrong to blame the failure of songbirds to recover over the past 10-15 years exclusively on agriculture, at a time when green farming schemes and lower pesticide applications have done much to improve the food available for songbirds. He wants predation, by both mammals and birds such as sparrowhawks and kestrels, to be studied as a possible explanation.

He said: "If you've got somebody who is sick, who is diagnosed as having cancer, diabetes and a mild form of anaemia, you've got to deal with the cancer first, but if you don't deal with the other two the patient won't get better."

Prof Brown said the grey squirrel has adapted to the British environment and there is a very wide range of food it will take compared with the vegetarian red squirrel.

He said: "I've raised some questions which need to be looked at much more closely. If predators are having as bad an effect as that, then the answer is to look at doing something more systematic to restore the balance, certainly with mammals and possibly with birds of prey."

His study is likely to re-focus attention on the Government's abandonment of widespread programmes for controlling the North American grey squirrel, which has pushed the native red squirrel into extinction across most of mainland England.

Grahame Madge, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said: "Grey squirrel predation is something we at the RSPB - and the British Trust for Ornithology, English Nature and the Forestry Commission - are beginning to think is a problem.

"We know the problems for some birds - such as the corn bunting, yellowhammer and grey partridge is very specific to do with agricultural change and pesticides.

''But for hawfinch and a number of other species, the grey squirrel is one factor that has been identified as part of the problem.''



Max
http://squirrelproject.blogspot.com/

Man Accused Of Scalding Trapped Squirrel To Death

(AP) CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. A 75-year-old Crystal Lake man is accused of killing a gray squirrel he trapped in a cage by pouring scalding hot water on the animal.

John Grivas is charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty and unlawfully trapping a squirrel. He faces up to a year in jail and a fine up to $2,500.

Grivas denies scalding the caged squirrel, saying he shook it. He says he didn't know he needed a permit to trap the animal.

Illinois Department of Natural Resources spokesman Chris McCloud says conservation officers found evidence the squirrel had been scalded after a neighbor called police to report the incident.

The neighbor alleged Grivas used a teapot to pour steaming water on the animal multiple times as it died in the cage.





Max
http://squirrelproject.blogspot.com/