squirrels

Cool Stories – ND #56

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
Yard heart created solely by animals and birds – Photo: L. Weikel

Cool Stories

The snowfall we received over the weekend has yet to melt. There’s been some slight thawing during the day and re-freezing at night and the roads are clear, but overall, there’s still about 4” or so on fields and lawns and edges of forests. And those 4” have revealed some pretty cool stories – and provided fodder for others.

The first amazing story the snow told us today along our walk was that a raptor took a snowy plunge for prey. It was hard to get close to the obvious imprint without messing anything up, but as you can see below, we found footprints leading right up to the ‘kill site.’ (I can’t think of any better euphemism, sorry.)

Raptor Action

As you can see above, there’s an imprint in the snow of where a raptor quite obviously dove headfirst into the snow to snag a meal. Whether or not the creature who created the footprints leading right up to the kill site actually became the meal is unclear.

Taken together, it is obvious that a dive attack was made. The only optimistic prediction I can make (for those who hope the prey escaped) is that there didn’t appear to be a drop of blood or errant fluff of fur or tuft of feather anywhere near the site.

Plunge site and wing imprint (lower left) – Photo: L. Weikel

Cool Imprint

One bonus this particular snowy imprint offered us was the wing imprint just above the plunge site. It’s clearly the wing of either an owl or a hawk. I’m in awe that we found such a beautiful site tonight. I only wish I were a better tracker.

Cool Stories – Closeup of wing imprint – Photo: L. Weikel

 

Footprints leading to ‘fated’ plunge site – Photo: L. Weikel

Yard Heart

Finally, as can be seen in the photo leading off this blog post, I discovered the shape of a heart in our yard, created solely from the footprints of animals. I’m sure it wasn’t the puppies. Perhaps it was created by squirrels. This great big heart was clearly decorated by the prints of lots of birds.

Below is a closeup of the bird footprints and part of the prints of whatever animal it was that created the heart. Perhaps it was squirrels. Could be fox – although there are other prints in the yard that look more like fox. Deer prints, located elsewhere in our yard, are obvious – their hooves each make heart shapes in and of themselves.

Yes, my sense is that the heart was created by squirrels.

And I wonder if they left me a love note. I’ve put out at least 5 lbs. of peanuts in the past two days. A lot, I know. But it was darn cold out. Perhaps this is their way of showing me just how much they appreciated the feast. I’d like to think so. Makes for some cool stories, if nothing else.

Closeup of animal footprints creating heart shape and bird prints decorating the heart – Photo: L. Weikel

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First Flurries – Day 759

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Cardinal in First Flurries – Photo: L. Weikel

First Flurries

Yup, it’s definitely starting to feel like winter, even though we’ve not technically arrived there yet. Here in eastern Pennsylvania we experienced our first flurries and snow coating of the season.

I hope I never get so old that I don’t feel the joy of ‘first flakes’ fluttering in my heart as they come cascading out of the sky. I know, I know. There are personal safety issues that arise with the arrival of the slippery stuff. I’m not talking about the stresses that might accompany having to walk or drive anywhere essential in the snow. I simply never want to have my first reaction to seeing snow be anything other than a touch of childlike glee.

Critter Reactions

I’ll admit it; I had to laugh at the birds falling all over themselves at the feeders. I should’ve taken more photos of the house finches, goldfinches, nuthatches, and cardinals crowding and dive bombing each other at the feeder just outside my living room window. You’d think it was the equivalent of avian Black Friday.

But I did manage to get a lovely photo of a mama cardinal that looks almost staged. I only wish I could activate the ‘live’ feature of the photo within this post because when I hold my finger down on the photo in my phone, you can’t miss the curtain of flurries falling from the sky as she turns and winks at me.

Squirrel Squatter – Photo: L. Weikel

Squirrel Squatter

While I was making my morning coffee, I had to laugh at the unexpected sighting of a squirrel balancing on a metal hanger for a floral basket. I cannot imagine that its tiny little peds aren’t freezing. I hope they didn’t stick to the metal when s/he went to move. They probably didn’t, although I was surprised at how long it hung out there. It did not look like the most comfortable perch.

Luckily, the temperature was just under freezing. I think that tongue-sticking-to-a-metal-pole type of reaction only happens when everything is in a deep, deep freeze.

Slugs

And then there were the spoiled creatures that live in our home. Cletus and Spartacus were not venturing far away from the fire. They much preferred watching the flakes from the window or the door. Or even better, from the vantage point of inside their dreaming eyes.

Cletus & Spartacus – Photo: L. Weikel

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Flexible Hips – Day 655

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Spread Eagle Pose – Makes me laugh every time – Photo: L. Weikel

Flexible Hips

I’ve been especially patient with the squirrels this year. I’m not sure why. But the fact that they don’t seem to be gnawing their way into our house or garage, and don’t seem to be cozying up in our cars and eating the wires are all points in their favor. There’s at least one, though, in the little family that’s taken up residence in – I believe – our shagbark hickory tree that has preternaturally flexible hips.

Weird, right? It’s probably more weird that I actually noticed and am writing a post on my observation than the fact that the little one has a very odd way of holding itself when it ‘rests.’

Clearly feels threatened by Spartacus (not) – Photo: L. Weikel

 

Personality or Comfort?

I’ve found myself wondering about this lately, though. Is it a tendency of all squirrels to splay their hips the way this one does? I don’t think it is, but I’ve been hard put to keep close enough tabs on them all to discern whether it’s only the one that hunkers down in that special way.

It looks like quite a comfortable stance. Then again, this may be the member of this family that prefers to just chill out.

It’s especially tough to keep track when they’re all hanging out and acting squirrelly at the same time. And by ‘all’ I mean the four main ones, which I believe are a mommy, daddy, and two babies, or just a mommy and three babies. But I have to admit: there are two in particular that engage in the classic adorable squirrel behavior of chasing each other round and round and round the maples, then up and down and then scurry across the branches, leaping into the magnolia then taking a couple hops and skips onto the hickory.

Today the little jerks were particularly adorable. Ugh; I hate thinking about them with affection because they can do a lot of damage. They were really into the chasing game this afternoon, and I swear they were acting just like two little kids. While they may not have been laughing, they sure were talking up a storm at each other, chittering and chattering, and I swear almost taunting each other.

I know I shouldn’t be encouraging them to live so close by. And my provision of readily available peanuts is a major culprit in all of this. But it’s not as if I can only provide the legumes to the blue jays, fish crows, nuthatches, and various woodpeckers that frequent our feeders. I’m not going to discriminate!

Just chillin’ in the cool grass – Photo: L. Weikel

Let Me Know

So if any of you are avid squirrel watchers or are particularly gifted with knowledge of squirrel anatomy or behavior, please let me know. Is this little Yoga Rocky uniquely gifted with flexible hips, just weird, or not weird at all – and I’m the weird one for thinking its behavior is odd?

All I can tell you is that s/he makes me laugh every time I see it hunker down this way.

It’s life little things.

Oops – Photo: L. Weikel

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Peanut Gallery – Day 592

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Peanuts with an olive oil chaser – yum! Photo: L. Weikel

Peanut Gallery

I’m definitely getting trained. While I can’t say that I’ve totally got this down yet, since I pretty much need to get harangued every morning before I spring into action, I feel I’m at least becoming a bit more responsive to the demands of my peanut gallery.

And I actually think they take turns. Some mornings it’s the blue jays who glare at me, issuing forth an ear piercing shriek is I manage to ignore their dirty looks as they hop from one branch to another.

Other days it’s my grackles. They snag my attention by visiting in groups of five or six at a time. They swoop in and land on the empty peanut coil causing it to clatter against the wrought iron post that also proffers two conventional feeders filled with sunflower seeds. Black oil, no less. Only the best for my buds.

While the grackles and blue jays will reluctantly consume sunflower seeds, it is quite obvious that their preference is peanuts. And it goes without saying that all the woodpeckers that hang around near our home also do their best to deplete the resources, including their cousins, the nuthatches.

For a couple weeks, the fish crows had moved back into the avian neighborhood. Their distinctive grokking voices could be heard taunting each other high in the ash and maple trees that were just beginning to leaf out. They, too, knew of the legendary Weikel peanut dispensary and would visit frequently.

Inspecting the coil – Photo: L. Weikel

Feeding My Face – and Theirs

As I wrote about a couple of times in April and May, I simply had to confess my utter helplessness to stop binge-eating peanuts in response to the stress of this pandemic and its effect on my emotions. But I promise you: I would not be compulsively feeding my face with peanuts if I didn’t have bags of them set aside for my birds (and yes, even the squirrels).

It’s because of my dedication to my creatures that I have these stupid peanuts around my house, tempting me. But I’ve discovered something else. If I went by the demand in my yard, I could literally blow through a three pound bag of roasted peanuts every single day. And that’s without my help anymore!

But come to find out: one person’s loss is another critter’s bonanza. Check this out.

I just might be doing my fellow (peanut planting) Americans a service. Apparently there’s a glut of the prized Virginia peanuts on the market due to the suspension of major and minor league baseball. I didn’t realize bagged peanuts in the shell are a huge source of munching pleasure enjoyed by baseball aficionados.

As a result of discovering the plight of peanut farmers due to the Coronavirus, I now have a newfound appreciation for just what my patriotic duty could entail. Three pounds a day. I can do it.

And I know I have a lot of support for that strategy in the yard as well.

Grackles cracking open peanuts on the driveway – Photo: L. Weikel

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