Sand,

That's hilarious about your Montreal squirrel duel! I think the thing with
this wire is that it's too thin for them to hang onto or run on - it can
only hold 15 lb, but is soft and easy to wind around a tree or itself. I
was surprised too that this feeder - it's just a metal tube of sun seeds -
that close to several trees foils them, but there's seed on the ground
nearby and I guess between my feeding them at the back door and finding food
along the stream, they're just not that motivated...we'll see in midwinter!
Yes, I've had "the look" from at least one of the squirrels - wow- they are
INTENSE! I wouldn't dare after such a fierce gaze not to feed them.

Dianna,
I haven't seen any owls - wish I would as I'm a night person and tend to
miss the morning birds. I built a big duck box earlier this Spring when I
had that pair of Mandarin ducks coming here, but they didn't use it and am
still hoping maybe for an owl or flicker to use it. This morning had a pair
of Northern Flickers in the yard. Haven't seen them before so that was
exciting. They had the red nape on the neck so apparently are the
"yellow-shafted" type. If you know of anything else in particular that
attracts owls, I'd love to know. I went to a preserve in Marysville that
the Pilchuck book said has owls and flying squirrels, but saw neither. My
relatives used to have a ranch north of Morro Bay that we would visit and
the barn was full of owls perching on the beams which fascinated us kids.
Guess they must have had a lot of mice in the hay so am sure you're right
about the rats, but had plenty of them under the house last winter, now
banished, and there was no owl about to help.

Christine
Everett