Our Squirrel Does Wicked

My husband put up a bird feeder outside our dining room window recently. We've had the usual sparrows and finches, and this week we got a pair of tufted titmice and a chickadee. (I love the less common birds, no surprise. :) )

My office window looks out at ground level right below the feeder. So I've a bunch of companions every day. A squirrel, a cardinal (sometimes his mate, too), a chipmunk or two, and three mourning doves. They forage around and under the rose bush. Oh, and I usually have at least one of the cats, too.

So yesterday morning I hear Number Two let out some kind of cry. I called to her, and she didn't respond. She made some other unintelligible exclamation, so I went into the hall. Number One then cried "Oh my God." I asked WTH and got shushed. So I went down to the dining room. And saw this:

This shouldn't be a surprise, right? Squirrels are notorious for getting into bird feeders. But this one was an astonishing feat.

We watched him hang out for a while. We called my husband out of the bedroom. He grumbled, but then also did the whole "Oh my God thing." While Squirrel stared placidly at us through the window and kept chewing.

But here's the thing. Here's where the feeder hangs. The bay window is the dining room window. The feeder (which you can barely see, because of the angle and background) is FIFTEEN FEET OFF THE GROUND.

This is the closest tree:

I'm thinking this little bastard went up the telephone pole in the front of the house, ran along the wires to the side of the roof, and then went over the roof to shimmy down the wire holding the feeder. There really isn't another way to do it. That takes intelligence and determination, right? Especially since there's tons of seed all over the ground all the time.

So after a while my husband said, "okay, tell him to get down." Number Two slapped the window with the flat of her hand. Squirrel JUMPED TO THE GROUND. Fifteen friggin' feet. Defying gravity indeed. 

He was back up there this morning. You almost have to let him take the reward for his effort, you know?