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While at school, I would delight in feeding squirrels and watching their antics. In the middle of the Quad was an old oak tree with a large enough hole to accommodate about 9 squirrels. On cold, snowy days, I would approach the tree and tzk tzk them and they would literally spill out of the hole. Spouse claims to remember them first thing stretching.
Thus, having squirrels in my back yard is still a pleasure and we still feed them. But no such camaraderie. When I spread the peanuts on large enough area so that each can have his own "plate" some would first angrily chase others before even grab their own. Of course, while one is chasing the other, a third would quickly come and grab the treasure.
We also have a separate bird feeder, made of metal to prevent the squirrels from grabbing at it. And the beautiful red cardinal really likes it. I read that it is hard to spot the cardinals as they are shy and come right before sun down. Not in my backyard. The bird feeder has a perch all around it and several ports, enough for a few birds to feed at the same time. Not by Cardinal Rules. As soon as he sees another bird on the other side - a sparrow or a black-cap chickadee - he aggressively chases it away.
Years ago, when we lived in California, we had a hummingbird feeder with four ports on all four sides. As soon as one would notice that another bird is on the opposite side, he would chase it away. And then one hummer decided to claim the feeder as his own. He would perch on a wire that we used to secure the bougainvillea to the fence, hiding and when another bird would come to the feeder, he would catapult himself upward with a ferocity of a missile. Spouse nicknamed him Newt...
It seems, therefore, that for back yard animals the rule is: first, let no one else share in the spoils.
And Republicans do not believe in evolution?
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