The Nature of Things

Yes, it is S.A.D., but that doesn't mean what you think it means.  No, what it is is Squirrel Appreciation Day!   That's right - the bushy-tailed ones now have a day all of their own on which we can pay tribute and give them all the glory that is due them. Now, how did I ever fail to notice such an important event? Lucky me, I have two species of squirrels in my yard to appreciate. There's the fox squirrel with its reddish brown fur. It is the largest of the native tree squirrels in North America and is resident throughout most of the eastern United States and ranges as far west as Colorado. Then there is the smaller and somewhat cuter gray squirrel. with its eponymous gray fur and a white or very light gray belly. Both types are squirrels are very agile, but the gray squirrel is almost unbelievably so. I have seen them perform leaps and contortions that I would scarcely have thought possible. They are the ones that give fits to people who feed birds in their yards because ...

A half-grown gray squirrel kit photographed in my backyard over the past weekend . The gray squirrel ( Sciurus carolinensis ) is native to the eastern and midwestern United States and to the southern portions of the eastern provinces of eastern Canada. But they have never been resident in my yard in the twenty-five years that we have lived here, and so it was a surprise when three of them turned up in my backyard over the weekend. The first to show up was an adult female who was feeding under my bird feeders in the yard. I went inside to get my camera to document her presence, but while I was gone, she disappeared. However, in just a little while, two very young gray squirrels came to the same area to feed. The adult's babies? Maybe. The two little squirrels were picking up seeds and also munching on some pieces of stale rolls that I had scattered on the ground.  Now, our yard is and ever has been well-populated by fox squirrels ( Sciurus niger) , the big rusty colored squirrels, l...