DR Jennifer, I put out peanuts for the squirrels in the back yard each day. Usually I do it in the morning before I leave work. They are hungry little rascals!
Boy, you get off easy! At about 6 AM I venture out to be greeted by 4-6 anxious squirrels (if I'm late, I get very accusatory looks). They retreat a bit and watch while I fill the redwood Squirrel feeder mounted on the Fir tree with a "Premium Nutritional Fortified Squirrel Food" which I buy in 10 lb bags. I then put an ear of dried corn on a spike mounted on the retaining wall (dried ears of corn come in 6.5 lb bags). I then fill the large metal cage bird feeder (also affixed to the Fir) with a large Birdola seed bar (which the squirrels enjoy more than birds because they can swing on it like a jungle-gym while they eat)! Then I fill the lamp-post bird feeder with "Vitamin and Mineral Enriched Fruit Flavored" Wild Bird Feed (50lb bags). The feeder is mounted atop a tall slender metal pole, and has a large plastic cap that covers the top (with a small "filling hole" in it). The seed trickles down thru small slits in the base for the birds. The squirrels look real cute with their tiny little paws shinning up the pole to feast at the feeder. (They soon figured out that they could climb on the retaining wall support beam and make an Olympic jump and grab onto the feeder ledge and then pull themselves up. They have long ago figured how to pull off the cover, enlarge the feeding hole, and hop inside for an easier feed. ) These chores complete, we then move on to the Large White Oak and fill the Woodpecker Feeder with a nice Woodpecker Feed Bar and then fill the Suet cage with a "Nutty Treat" suet cake.
Then it's back to bed - and time to watch the morning Carnival of the Animals. Grackles and Squirrels competing for everything. Blue Jays and Cardinals waiting for an empty slot. The Crackles are sloppy eaters, and scatter seed all around the pole feeder, and the Mourning Doves scrounge on the ground for the food. The squirrels are also pretty sloppy with the ear of corn, so corn kernels dropped over the wall are eagerly gobbled up by Cardinals or Blue Jays. Should a squirrel leave the corn ear unattended, a Jay will swoop down and snatch a kernel and fly away.
When the Rosy Breasted Female woodpecker shows up, she tries to shoo the Crackles away from the feeders on the Oak - with reasonable success. When her Hubby shows up, he just attacks the Crackles and drives them away (he has been known to chase them through the trees cawing "and don't come back!").
During courtship time, the Female Cardinal sits in the grass - then the male goes and grabs some food and comes back and pops it into her mouth.
Now the feeder dance is becoming more entertaining because we have juveniles getting their first "wings".
The Blondes (Bonnie and Buster) now sit on my bed, front legs on the window sill, and wildlife watch with me.
der Brucer (thinking the orphans in Africa should eat as well as my menagerie)