Here’s email from Sandy Morrissey about a wildlife encounter she had at her bird feeder yesterday, with her very good photos. Sandy, who lives and gardens in Hartsdale, is the one who has pretty much single-handedly brought bluebirds back to southern Westchester — an earlier post.

“I have a new outlook on gluttonous squirrels at my bird feeders. As you know, most of us spend a great deal of time trying to “outfox” squirrels at our feeders. All of mine have a squirrel guard of one kind or another. That hasn’t stopped them from figuring out how to get free food by jumping on my hanging bucket feeder and knocking seeds onto the ground by the jolt.

“However, after getting to witness one of nature’s most beautiful predators up close and personal yesterday, I will welcome the sight of squirrels around my feeders.

“Here’s what my husband and I witnessed yesterday:

“I was doing more feeder watching than usual because I was doing my weekly counting of birds at my feeder for Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s Feederwatch program. All of a sudden, out sprang this fox and pounced on a squirrel. Fortunately, my camera was nearby. I started clicking, as I called for my husband to look. At one point the squirrel got away and ran about 15 feet before the fox got it again. The pictures tell the story.

Once the squirrel was dead (notice the fox finished it off by choking its neck), the fox trotted off to the neighbor’s yard to begin its meal. I tried to get a picture there, but the fox was scared off by another car driving by before I could get close.

I had actually seen a fox stroll through my yard near my feeders twice in the past two weeks. In fact, I caught a picture of it on Nov. 20th:

“While I had seen an occasional fox in my yard – maybe once a year in the past few years, it was always far from the house. I thought it was odd and wondered if fox eat birds.

Now I know what it was up to and I would guess I will get a repeat performance – since it had success.

So that’s the report from Sandy’s wildlife garden!

Best,
Sandy