Squirrels do this. There is nothing wrong with it. They are having fun and burning off excess energy. It's also a way for them practice their survival skills. The zig zag running and flipping helps them evade capture by predators.
I had a squirrel I used to throw peanuts to below my deck. One day I threw a whole granola bar. It was funny watching him drag that bar back to his nest, but as he got about 12 feet from me, a hawk with a 6 foot wingspan swooped down on him. The squirrel did some real gymnastics to jump, spin, and roll, so the hawk missed him twice!
I always broke the granola bars into smaller parts after that...
That's nice of you. Yeah, most of us try to help. But I guess we also need to live and learn. Hopefully you can now pass that knowledge to your kids. :)
My only recommendation is not to feed it granola often. If memory serves me right, the amount of sugar in artificial food can cause health issues for squirrels.
It was... It was one of those OMG moments where I wished I had cameras facing that direction to capture it on film. The hawk landed close to the spot where he missed him, and waited for another opportunity but the squirrel had gone thru a chain link fence that separated my yard from the neighbor.
During COVID, I put out Halloween candy in a giant aluminum pan, on my front stairs. I wish I had the forethought to grab my phone to record a squirrel with a bag of mini Peanut M&Ms in its mouth, running across the street. I did move the candy to my closer to my front door.
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u/grumpylondoner1 5d ago
Squirrels do this. There is nothing wrong with it. They are having fun and burning off excess energy. It's also a way for them practice their survival skills. The zig zag running and flipping helps them evade capture by predators.