It was a chilly, grey day complete with a wintry mix.  It didn’t stop the crows from trying to get to the bird feeders.  Fortunately, most of the feeders I have now will not let them perch and reach the seed.  And the one feeder that the squirrels can empty, was empty.  So the finches, Juncos and Titmouses were flitting back and forth between the trees and the feeders.  I noticed 8 or 10 Juncos hanging out in the middle of a spiraea; I suppose that was as good a shelter as was readily available.

I waiting until a junto perched in the tree beyond the feeder so I could take a few pictures.  I noticed the shepherd’s hook that the empty feeder was hanging on begin to sway.  It is only about 10 feet from the window.  One of the squirrels was climbing the pole.  Just after I snapped the first image, he reached sideways toward the tray of the feeder, lost his balance and fell to the ground.  He scampered a few feet away and froze.  Then he came back and scampered up the pole again … peeking a me each time he stopped and then posed on top of the hook for a minute before discovering that the feeder was already empty.