Smarter than the Average Squirrel

I've lived at my current address for about a year now. When I came here, I came with two bird feeders that I've had for more than two years. They were nothing special, just plastic cheap finds at Lowe's or the supermarket. When we moved here, I quickly noticed that there was much more bird activity than at my last address, I assume due to the large amount of trees in my back yard. I was very excited to see two Blue Jays and a Cardinal in my first week here, so I promptly put up the two seed feeders and a hummingbird feeder and waited patiently.

Week 2: I found both birdfeeders, which I had hung from branches, knocked down and cracked, the bottoms open. Squirrels. I'm aware of the little buggers' thievery skills, and put a post on the tree and hung a new one. The next morning I walked out to find a very large squirrel with one hind leg on the tree and the other on the feeder, using his front paws to scoop the food out. I found this both cute and frustrating, as the food is for the birds, not the squirrels. But I admit I was amazed at his acrobatic skills and left it there until it was time to refill the feeder.

Week 3: I moved the birdfeeder to a new tree with a much more difficult angle, preventing the clever thievery from the previous spot. The next morning I walked out, and not only was the birdfeeder empty, it was laying on the ground like a Saint Bernard climbed the tree and used it as a chew toy. Now I was angry. I went to Lowe's that day and purchased an anti-squirrel birdfeeder. I hung it and went inside to make dinner. Upon returning outside after dinner, the anti-squirrel feeder was laying on the ground with a gang of squirrels around it, having a feast. I slowly backed into my house ...

Week 4: We got an outdoor cat (pure coincidence, not to rid the squirrels). Within that week our little hunter brought us a mouse a day and left a Robin and rabbit under my picinic table. I assumed the squirrel problem would resolve itself now and bought ANOTHER birdfeeder.

Week 5: The position of the new birdfeeder caused a squirrel to fall into the kiddie-pool, drowning him. Now, as effective as this was, it wasn't really what I was looking for, and moved the birdfeeder AGAIN (partially because I felt bad and partially because I had to drain and refill the pool).

Week 6: I gave up. The little buggers just finally got the best of me after breaking ANOTHER feeder and I turned toward gardening. 

Present Day: Yesterday I got one of those suction-cup window feeders and put it outside my bathroom window. Today, I noticed every time I went to check, a squirrel was sitting on the branch glaring at the feeder. There is no way this squirrel can get to this feeder unless it learns to use a ladder. Or fly. But it almost seemed like the squirrel knew that, because I swear it flipped me off.

So... Squirrels, 5.

Me, 1 (for now)