Rodent Patrol

This little guy (or gal) is one of several that have come and gone through our garden the past few years. For almost two decades we rarely saw a fox.  And then one spring there were pups, born under a neighbor's garden shed.  

They lounged under the birches like young cats, yawning, stretching and  chasing one another around the garden.  The coyotes have now been chasing the fox and that is troubling.  I'm hoping they can share the habitat, but only time will tell.  When the fox are present, the mouse, vole and chipmunk population is under control.

Oh, Dear.

Sometimes we feed the birds. And then there are the four-legged birds. Bambi. Outside the kitchen window the other side of the snow-laden window box eating off the plywood platform we set on top of the birdbath to keep it from freezing. In the morning, there are nuthatches, chickadees, downy and hairy woodpeckers, gold finches, English sparrows, a fox sparrow, a pair of winter wrens, blue jays and cardinals.

Not all at once, but visiting sporadically as they make their way from the suet feeders, from the tall seed feeder next to the 60-foot spruces and then this platform feeder. In the afternoon, the deer come to finish off the seed. Later the field mice are no doubt out there and at dusk, the fox, coyote and raccoons dine on the slim pickings. How do YOU protect your plants from four-legged critters?