Ms. Mousey
Meet Ms. Mousey... Alright, everyone be forewarned that if I get any teasing concerning this post, I ain't gonna' be happy!
Onward...
One of the advantages about backyard birding is that you never quite know what the process will entail... Enter Ms. Mousey. Here's her "tale."
The wife and I buy and store a lot of seed, and try to keep the rodents at bay using sealed bins. But a few seeds do spill and the occasional mouse does get into the garage, and well, there you go. No problem, right? We just used those little humane "trap and release" gadgets, walked the captors down the road into the woods, and let the little buggers go. Still, the mouseketeers kept coming. After a while it became apparent that we didn't have a problem with squeaker saturation, but rather an issue with rodent recidivism. There were just a few of the little beasts, but they kept coming back. It got to the point that we'd release one, and it would make a bee line back to the house faster than we could. What to do?
Thankfully, "Otis" the owl stepped in, and that took care of most of the vermin pronto... But still one remained. We trapped it and pondered - finally deciding to put her in a wire-topped aquarium. That has been her official residence for the last three years. It took her time to acclimate, but she has become a fun pet, forever untouched. In fact, she sits less than five feet from me now. Ms. Mousey thoroughly enjoys her running wheel, white chocolate, and pecans. And she seems to be doing well... The average lifespan of a field mouse is 2 years. She is coming up on twice that.
Anyway, just goes to show ya' that you never know where residential birding is going to end up...
See you by the feeders,
CapeCodAlan