Thursday, April 04, 2019

Take Three Thursday - The Destroyers Have Come Home To Roost

In an effort to notice more of the ordinary in my life, I have decided to share what I have noticed this week in Take Three Thursday.   The idea is to take 1 - 3 photos that are linked some how; by theme, by colour, by date, by moment,  by points of view. There is no formal link in but please feel free to join in.    What have you noticed this week? 

See what others have noticed this week:
Melissa at Daily Life - Bits & Pieces

Karen at Random Reflections

This week what I've noticed is the destruction of two well built squirrel satellite nests.  Black squirrel(s) build several food storage nests; satellite nests, near but not in the same tree as their primary home nests.  We had two food nests in our trees.  All through winter's storms, these two nests stood up to what ever Mother Nature threw at them, but this week  neither Bob the builder squirrel(s) or Mother Nature took into account The Destroyers; Conan Grackle & Conan Blue Jay.  Both of these birds have taken turns in destroying the food nests, looking for food for themselves.  The materials for the nests, leaves, twigs were falling like rain.  Now, in a matter of a few hours,  there is nothing left of either of these food nests.  Nature is a harsh master.

The builder or as we call him "Bob"


T
 The food nests


The destroyers - Mr Man has named them both Conan

 Some of the fallout of the nest destruction

I know that this is all common in the animal world but it still makes me feel sad for the squirrels as they are now preparing for the arrival of the babies & food is still not plentiful in nature's buffet.  I guess it's time to throw out some more peanuts and/or fruit gone off a little too much.

12 comments:

  1. Oh no - you can't help but feel sorry for the poor squirrels, they thought they were all organised and ready for the next baby squirrels and now they have to start all over again. Definitely time to throw out some more food!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They will get peanuts mostly, fruit is too expensive to not use (most of the time).

      Delete
  2. Nature can be cruel, so keep chucking out the peanuts and fruit!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Peanuts out, especially now that my chipmunks are awake.

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. I would never make a good naturalist as I'd interfere with nature's ways.

      Delete
  4. I've heard Spring can be hard for squirrels, with food stored from the Fall gone and no fruits available yet. Some of them look so skinny! The Blue Jays, on the other hand, don't seem to ever suffer lack. Tough birds, those jays, and I think Conan is a great name.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't think there any babies yet, but one year our vet rescued several babies that got blown out of their nests in a horrible wind storm. Conan - I've not seen the movie but Mr Man likes Arnold movies.

      Delete
  5. Replies
    1. Bob is certainly cute at times. We have about 3 resident blacks in the yard - not sure if there's any girls among them.

      Delete
  6. Oh dear. I know its nature's way but it doesn't seem fair. As far as I know the American squirrels we have here suffer no such hardship and have become more of a nuisance than anything else...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Our resident American Grey Squirrel is now outnumbered by our native blacks & Lucy the Red Squirrel but it use to be the other way around. Not sure what changed the balance.

      Delete