Squirrels knocking on my window

About a year ago, I noticed that there were a few squirrels either living in the large pine tree outside one of my kitchen windows, or just hanging out there. I enjoyed standing at the window, watching them scurry along. It reminded me of a friends father back when I was all of thirteen or so who had trained squirrels around his yard to come up and take crackers right out of his hand. I thought it was very cool, as the squirrels around my house simply ran whenever I went outside.

So about a year ago, I started throwing Ritz Crackers out the window to them. After about a month, they became familiar enough to me that if they saw me in the window, they would stop what they were doing and stare at me, waiting to see if I would throw any crackers their way.

One squirrel in particular, an all-black one with a white spot on the left side of his face, was bolder than the rest. He would actually approach the window if he saw me.

Gradually, I learned that more than Ritz Crackers, squirrels REALLY like Ritz Crackers with Peanut Butter. They go bonkers for the stuff. Spread a little PB on the cracker, and they would take their tasty treat a few feet away, eat all the PB off the cracker, and then eat the cracker itself.

Eventually, white-spot became so bold as to jump up to the windowsill and stare in the window at me until I would fetch him his treat. As soon as I would start to open the window, however, he would bolt for the safety of the ground and wait for me to toss it to him.

I decided that, if my little buddy wanted his treat, he would have to risk actually taking the cracker from my hand. So rather than simply tossing it out to him, I would open the window and wave the treat up and down, talking gently (so as to get him used to the sound of my voice) until he came closer and closer. Eventually, he would come to stay on the windowsill, and gently take it from my hand.

This went on for months. Then, about three months ago or so when I was walking around the yard picking up stuff before mowing the lawn, White-Spot came right up to me. Outside, not in the window. I did not have a treat on me, but I went inside and made one up. It took him a little while, but he now will come right up to me and take it from my hand when I am outside. He trusts me.

But things have changed. White-Spot has competition . There are now at least five different squirrels that will jump onto the windowsill to get my attention, hoping I will toss the yummy treats out to them. (And I usually do, but not every time.) Two of the new guys will actually take it from me, though they are much more timid at this point than White-Spot is. They also try and chase each other away if they see me, trying to be the one who gets the treat. They are getting better at being patient and learning to share, as they have figured out that if there is more than one of them, I will make sure they each get a treat.

I am also changing their diet a little, substituting the Ritz for the less expensive saltine variety. It’s the Peanut Butter they like anyway.

As I was sitting in the kitchen typing this up on my PowerBook, guess who showed up at the window? You guessed it, White-Spot, my little bud. I happened to have my digital camera handy, so I snapped a few quick pictures of him, as well as another one who also showed up for a quick snack.