Posted on 06/02/2009 10:06:44 AM PDT by freespirited
PORT HURON, Mich. (AP) — A brazen squirrel has been grabbing small American flags placed in a cemetery and carrying them up to its nest, which now looks as if it's bedecked in bunting.
Every Memorial Day, volunteers place the flags next to the graves of about 965 veterans buried at Mount Hope Cemetery on the city's north side. The flags were undisturbed during a Mass held Monday.
The next day, the Times Herald reported, workers at the cemetery about 55 miles northeast of Detroit noticed several wooden staffs were still in the ground, but the flags themselves had been torn off — leaving a few scraps of red, white and blue.
Cemetery workers were stumped until the mystery unfurled in front of superintendent Ron Ceglarek's eyes. He watched a squirrel detach a flag stapled to a staff and carry it up a tree to a waiting squirrel building a nest.
Ceglarek watched it happen about a dozen times.
"He plucks them right off," Ceglarek said. "If I didn't see it, and I didn't follow the squirrel, I would have never believed it. ... It looked like he had a little bandanna in his mouth."
Red, white and blue fabric is draped over the branches around the nest, about 45 feet up a spruce tree.
Ceglarek said the cemetery normally keeps the flags at the gravesites until Flag Day on June 14, but they'll likely have to come out of the ground early this year to thwart the bushy-tailed burglar.
"Maybe they are trying to tell us it is going to be a hard winter," Ceglarek said. "Why use leaves when you can get flags?"
Hayden was from Michigan, but not Port Huron. Does anyone know why they happened to meet there?
Give me a break!
Garlic works real well on keeping squirrels/rabbits out of places you don’t want them. Simply plant cloves around the base of your feeder and they will stay away once it sprouts. Works well around tomato plants too. Later on you can harvest the fresh garlic. As for shooting them...I grew up eating squirrel and rabbit. Young ones are pretty tasty but older ones are gamey and tough.
Pretty good, Thanks
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Birds is racist.
That’s ok, squirrels is racist too. The red and grey squirrels always pick on the black ones.
Some kind of spray would solve the problem temporarily. I use cayenne pepper in my birdseed to keep the squirrels out. Maybe some solution, H2O and some kind of pepper? The first rain would make it useless.
Hooking the little flagpoles up to a few live wires would do the trick.
You're right--squirrels is racist, too!
That is wierd. I have noticed that my neighborhood is getting more diversified, and I just started noticing a black squirrell family. One particular street has 4 black squirrels. I was really surprised to see them this far south, now I know the reason they are moving in.
;-)
The foreclosures are even benefitting the squirrels!
The Old Man of The Mountain fell into the valley just as New Hampshire was going Liberal.
I have some of those patriotic squirrels in my yard too. Grrr. But hey, everybody needs nesting material this time of year.
I forget the guy's name and the year, but long ago a rich business man that liked seeing the black squirrels up north, had a bunch of them trapped and turned loose in the Marshall/Albion area. They have spread in all directions since that time.
The black squirrel is really just the black phase of the grey squirrel. They are the same species.
The fox squirrel more common in the southern Michigan hardwoods is a different species, as is the smaller red squirrel.
Michigan's other squirrel, the flying squirrel, can be found in good numbers is some areas of southern Michigan but is seldom seen. They are nocturnal and only come out at night.
Hey, great information. Thanks. I used to hunt squirells in the Hudson area, and I never new that flying squirrels are in MI. In addition, I thought the black squirrel was the same as the fox squirrel.
I try to learn something every day, now I am complete and it isn’t even noon yet.
They like thick wooded areas close to water, like a stream or river. Often the woods with lots of wild grape vines will have flying squirrels.
The best place to see them is in the bird feeder of a yard that butts up to a as described woods. They will come to the feeder after dark, so you will need a light to see them.
A little off topic but I have a woodchuck (groundhog) living in the ravine behind my house. Anyone know how to keep him out of my garden? I’d just shoot him but it’s a suburban neighborhood and my wife has gotten fond of watching him in the yard.
Squirrels are some of the most resourceful animals I’ve ever seen.
I always like the cat and mouse game they play when it comes to bird feeders. I saw one climb a tree, then do almost a militarystyle roap clime moving down the branch, and then take a flying leap to get on the bird feeder. Sometimes it missed. Another I saw do a running jump off the railing. It missed.
*Install a sturdy chicken wire fence WITH a chicken wire-lined trench. One without the other is a waste of money.
*Cover your plants with a floating row cover. Not very effective, but inexpensive and worth trying.
*Try to train your friend to stay away from the garden food. You can try sprinkling the plants with cayenne pepper (most small mammals with a good sense of smell will stay away from cayenne) while offering other vegetation well away from the garden. Ask at your supermarket, early in the morning, if they have any waste vegetation you can have. If they don't, buy some of that pre-packaged salad mix in the "ready to expire" bin. Chucks are active early in the morning and late in the afternoon, in general, but it's not uncommon to see them any time during the day or night.
My personal suggestion: Trap it and take it away. Yes, they are fun to watch. They can also carry diseases, as well as being a walking motel for ticks and fleas. If you leave food out for them, to entice them away from your garden, that might work--but it might also invite raccoons, possums, and a whole host of others to the party. Even the fencing isn't foolproof. Chucks are notorious for finding a way through barriers. A sturdy chuck barrier should be at least 2' high and 18" deep, and that's still not foolproof.
Good luck!
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