Squirrel Antics

Just another day in the life of a squirrel.

by Shawn and Annette Hall

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Summer isn't just a season, it's an event, and maybe it's not just the mountain air that makes us all crazy? You might think I was simply referring to us human inhabitants, but even the wildlife seems a little nuts at times.

Our deck has a birds eye view of all that nature has to offer, and lots more. You can imagine my amazement as I sat watching the antics of our resident squirrel. We have invited the hummingbirds into our little world by providing them with feeders for them to gorge on. The bluejays love the new bird feeders we've placed strategically among the tall pine trees.

The deer meander through the property at regular intervals throughout the day, stopping to gaze at their surroundings and partake of the cool clear water provided for their pleasure.

Even our cat is pampered with daily treats and four assorted foods available to her most hours of the day and night. Daily grooming sessions and attentive human scratching services are provided whenever she demands; The girl has it made.

What about the squirrels? My repeated requests to my husband (Shawn), to feed the little dears have gone unanswered. He refuses to allow me to indulge them, something about picking either birds or rodents to sponsor around our home, but I just adore the little creatures. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that nature has a way of caring for itself and our cute little gray squirrels are no exception. I needn't have worried about them.

One mother and her adorable little offspring have been hanging around for as long as I can recall. Shawn's office window has a direct view of the deer's watering pan. He has regaled me with tales of the squirrel's antics for the past couple of weeks. As he tells the story, our bluejays, (which incidentally mate for life) dominate their domain (our yard).

Each day the squirrel perches precariously on the side of the water pan, balancing on the edge, as she attempts to get a drink. Just as she dunks her head in the water, the bluejay lunges into her tail or rear-end, putting the squirrel off-balance, knocking her off the edge. You really need to see Shawn tell the story, he is quite animated and does an awesome rendition of a squirrel fending for its life.

Unfortunately, I have yet to witness this debacle but Shawn assures me that it is hysterically funny.

I was in for a treat today. As I sat under Shawn's Father's Day present (a new canopy for the deck) I watched as the deer meandered through our yard, and the bluejays were busy with their comical antics amusing themselves by tormenting the squirrels. Then it happened.

The squirrel bolted up one of the trees, which was home to one of our bird feeders. She sat on the branch above the feeder trying hard to act nonchalant about it. She took her sweet time, moving closer to the feeder, then resting for five or ten minutes in order to "sneak up" on the quite stationary feeder. It was the funniest thing to watch.

Food Fight

Look Out Below

The Squirrel Shake

Tastes Good

Hang on Tight

Kiss My Tail

(The pictures shown here are cropped images. The wallpapers are very large (1600x1200), high quality images, they will be slow to open. For best results right click on the image and "save target" to download the larger image to your desktop.)

I could have cared less about the birdseed, I was intent on the squirrels' actions and watched avidly, all the while snapping pictures just as fast as I could. I should note that this was no longer a chore, thanks to our other recent purchase, a Canon Powershot S3 IS. This is just about as powerful a digital camera as you can get. It provides manual controls for each feature, but can be used by even the least experienced new photographer to obtain amazing results immediately. For about $300 at Amazon (an almost $50.00 savings!), we couldn't be more thrilled with our purchase.

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words and rather than trying to put it all into words, I'll allow the pictures speak for themselves. Suffice it to say, a good time was had by all.

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Learn About Squirrels and Birds

• The Squirrel Place
• Squirrel Rehab
• Squirrel Identification Quiz
• Squirrel Feeders and Food
• Introduction to the Gray Squirrel
• Bird Identification Tool

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Updated September 23, 2007

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