We have several bird feeders in the yard at my house and we enjoy a variety of songbirds as they appear outside our windows. We see lots of common chickadees, cardinals, blue jays, wrens, finch and occasional Towhee and a lot of woodpeckers. But, I must admit, my favorite guest at our bird feeders has to be the squirrels.

Most bird feeding enthusiasts take great strides to prevent squirrels from emptying their feeders and chasing away the colorful birds that they’re meant to attract. But, for me, the antics of the squirrels are far more amusing than even the rarest of birds at the feeder. They way they stretch and contort themselves to reach the tiny seeds without falling to the ground is extraordinarily amusing and, let’s face it … they’re just so darned cute. Plus, as they eat and eat and grow chubby by the day, they become even more comical. The squirrels in our yard have no real predators to watch out for so they frolic about with a spectacularly brave attitude. Their relatives in more remote areas aren’t so lucky … they have to deal with rattlesnakes.

A team from the University of California Davis is working to understand how squirrels interact with rattlesnakes …

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