Summer gets humming at Gill’s farm Page 3A
HERITAGE
The hummingbird population has really increased around here in the past week. I filled all six of my feeders Saturday morning, and Monday morning they were nearly empty again.
I have been filling about every fourth day until now. I watched the feeders during the day Sunday afternoon, and it was not unusual to see three to five birds on each one. With 15 to 25 birds at a time eating sugar-water, all day long, it doesn’t take long to empty the feeders.
I’ve been overrun with squirrels, but it seems this is a common problem throughout the foothill area. Everybody seems to be crawling with Otospermophilus Beecheyi. And since Nature doesn’t like imbalance, if there’s an abundance of squirrels frolicking around the hills, what will it take to bring them back into a lower population level?
The answer is both simple and highly predictable. With a food source in abundance, the predators who will willingly thin down the abundant supply will be attracted to the area. If the food is abundant, the hungry critters will arrive, enjoy their meals, and thin down the population. When the food becomes scarce, the eaters will move on to the next abundant source. There are approximately three predators who come to mind immediately.
First, and probably the most disturbing to most folks, are the snakes. Rattlesnakes will gladly enjoy a ground squirrel as a satisfying lunch.
Second would probably be hawks and eagles. Pouncing on unsuspecting squirrels as they sit on the tops of the rocks and chirp to each other, is a favored method of acquiring a meal.
The third predator of the common ground squirrel, is the coyote.
With a great abundance of squirrels in the foothills, the coyote will roam the hills, secure in the knowledge there’s plenty of food.
Does this mean they will stay in the remote reaches of the area, remaining clear of the residential environs? Probably to some extent for they all are wild animals and would prefer to be away from humans. Of course, that doesn’t mean they will remain far away from interaction with man. When we go out into the wilds we’re going to run into squirrels, snakes, hawks, eagles, and coyotes.
Those of us who live on the edge of the foothills and streams, have a high probability of seeing both the current multitude of squirrels, as well as their predators, up close and personal-like. The crawling ones we need to watch out for, as they can be dangerous to man. The flying and walking ones, not so much of a problem. In fact, the coyote may be able to remain completely out of our sight, only letting us know when they’re present by howling, baying and barking.
The squirrels are voracious diggers, and will undermine trees, sidewalks, porches, and anything else they take a mind to create a burrow under. I have a constant ongoing battle with them to stop digging under my house in several spots.
Several years ago I was working with a beekeeper. He had a set of hives east of Santa Clarita he wanted to take home. I’d gone along to help load and drive one of the trucks. We had to wait until dark to start picking up hives, after the bees returned inside for the night. Since it was still early, we pulled our trucks into the shade in a steep canyon. I lay down on the front seat to try to get a little rest. Once we had the hives loaded and tied down, we were driving back to Springville, so it was going to be a long night.
My view out the open window let me look up vertically to the top of the canyon wall. A couple of red-tailed hawks attracted my attention.
They were screeching at each other, and making quite a ruckus.
One bird was sitting on a bare limb and the other bird, probably older, for it was halfagain as large, kept diving closer and closer to the youngster. On one pass, the old bird nearly hit the one on the limb. He came so close the little hawk took flight.
As soon as he took to the air, I could see Junior was grasping a squirrel tightly in his talons as he desperately tried to evade the older hawk. Apparently the youngster caught his prey in the Old Man’s territory, and Pops was not putting up with any thievery.
The two birds swooped and twisted in the air, making quite a display of flying ability. The old bird got above the thief, tucked his wings, and was diving in with talons outstretched. If he didn’t evade the dive, the younger bird was going to get seriously hurt.
Even a tasty squirrel wasn’t worth a vicious encounter with an experienced flier with sharp-talons. The squirrel was dropped in mid-flight when the youngster tucked to evade impact. As the prize slowly fell away, it was at least 200 feet above the roadway in the bottom of the canyon.
The older hawk dove through the airspace Junior had occupied milliseconds before. Passing the impact point, he discovered the tumbling squirrel body.
With only a minor adjustment to his diving rush, the experienced bird zeroed in on dinner. With a graceful and effortless extension of his wings, he plucked the falling squirrel out of the air. After several strong flaps of his wings, he settled down on the bare limb recently occupied by Junior and the purloined squirrel. With a victorious screech at the rapidly departing youngster, the old bird settled in to enjoy his dinner.