There has been an Eastern Gray Squirrel coming to get hazelnuts at my
place in the morning. I'm tolerating him because the Douglas Squirrels
have been hiding the last month or so. When I toss hazelnuts into the
driveway, I've seen him charge crows and jays in order to get his nuts.
But today, he charged and actually caught and pinned a Steller's Jay
while I was standing there. It surprised me so much that I let out a
cartoonishly loud gasp that I am certain my neighbor heard. Oh boy, was
that jay surprised too! He got loose pretty quickly, probably because he
was making such a racket.

On the other hand, I put a little nut feeder on my porch this summer for
the Douglas Squirrels. A young female claimed the porch as her own and
become habituated enough to jump onto my lap to take a nut from my hand.
One day, as she was on one of her longer caching trips, a gray squirrel
came up and started reaching in for nut after nut. When little miss
Douglas returned, she saw the gray squirrel and was mad as a hornet. She
chased him all the way outside my yard and even made physical contact
during the chase as she tried to jump onto him from behind. I was so
proud of my little friend. ;) She's pretty good at chasing birds too.

The nut feeder idea didn't last long. The Steller's Jays were very
frustrated about this feeder, and for good reason. They could see the
hazelnuts through a little plastic window, but somehow pecking the
feeder to death didn't get them anywhere. But soon enough they had
figured it out and the group would empty it in a few minutes.

Angela Percival, with a touch of anthropomorphism for the holidays,
Cooper Point, Olympia, WA
Angela at stillwatersci dot com