Saturday, March 12, 2011

A Squirrel's Tale

Hello everybody! Feeling good? Okay. What do you see in the picture above? If you answered a tree you would be very correct. But wait, there's more! You see it, don't you? The squirrel. There is a squirrel in the picture. It's really just his tail, but he's there.

Right in the center of the picture, sticking out of that knot hole in the tree is the tail of a squirrel. We have found the doorway to his home. Are you wondering how I discovered this? No? Not even a little bit? I'll tell you anyway.

I was walking along the nature trail minding my own business, and the business of every other living creature in the forest, when I heard a commotion from the area of an old fallen tree that still had some dried out leaves all over it. Well, wouldn't you know there was a squirrel in there!

And so this brings us to a new episode of Rat TV! This video shows the whole story of what happened. ...Watch it anyway. It's not that long. The story is really more interesting than this little interlude I'm doing makes it out to be. Okay, I'll get back to it.

Anyway, I heard this rustling sound and found a squirrel climbing around in the branches. But I wondered just what he was doing in there. It was only after he came out that I found out what he was up to. The squirrel was picking the old leaves off the dead tree.

It appeared that the squirrel needed some more leaves for his nest inside the tree. Maybe he was getting cold, so he wanted some more insulation. Or maybe his bed was a little too hard, so he got the leaves to soften it up a bit. Maybe it was both. Maybe I just like to hear myself type. Clickety clickety!

And this is where I found the squirrel. A fox squirrel, by the way. Maybe you can see him in there if you look closely. Maybe not. You'll have to watch the video to see him more clearly. You get a good look there. When he left the branches he had the leaves in his mouth, and he went running towards his tree house.

He saw me, but it only took a few seconds for him to ignore me again. Even so, he was up his tree quick as a flash. I soon lost him about halfway up. Then I got lucky and caught that picture of his tail with a few wildly directed aims of the camera. It was a good day.


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12 comments:

  1. Such a nice tail, I mean tale.I haven't noticed a lot being a cavity nester,but I would say it is becoming a condo.

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  2. Great to see a new episode of Rat TV! S/He was certainly concentrating on that task.

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  3. this was a fantastic video Ratty..I reallu enjoyed seeing the squirrel gathering for it's nest...I wonder if it has a mate to impress??

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  4. You are so lucky in capturing critters at the right and interesting moment. Plus it doesn't hurt that you are just plain funny! Another enjoyable post, Ratty.

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  5. That's awesome that got to see the squirrel taking leaves to it's nest. I love the photo with his tail sticking out. A female will have babies in there soon I bet. Wouldn't that be great to see little babies sticking their heads out of that hole!!

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  6. The squirrel shows you its tail purposely; by then, it becomes a star in the Rat TV.

    It got the trick.

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  7. I liked the video and the tale of a tail. Yesterday we saw a chipmunk with a huge mouth full of grass and moss. 'Tis the season...

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  8. That looks kind of like MY tail!

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  9. @Out on the prairie
    I really do love when I catch them sticking out of their homes like that.
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    @Sharkbytes
    I'm equally glad Rat TV is back. I haven't had anything good enough for it until that squirrel showed up. I also wondered about the male/female thing when I wrote it.
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    @Allotments4you
    He might be the protector of the family.
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    @Jean
    I don't know if it's luck or just sheer amount of time I'm out there, even now with that being so greatly reduced.
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    @Ginnymo
    I'd love to be able to see a few baby squirrels, or even better, get some pictures. I've seen a few babies, but I've never been able to get pictures.
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    @Rainfield
    I've seen a few people on TV here who get to be stars for exactly the same thing.
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    @Montucky
    I love when chipmunks do stuff like that.
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    @Sparkle
    I didn't think if it before, but it really does. You didn't sneak over to my forest, did you?

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  10. ah, the old hole up the tree trick, you were lucky to catch the tail. I had a hard time with a porcupine the other day and they are no speed demons.

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  11. Do you think SHE might be making a nest for her babies?? I didn't know if you knew for sure if it was a male or a female. I'm thinking it's baby squirrel season, right?

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  12. @Wiseacre
    I think squirrels just enjoy teasing people more, but I wish I could see a porcupine one day.
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    @Lin
    Because I'm a male myself, I always assume the animals are male too, even though at least half of them are probably female. That way I feel like they are more similar to me. I think that's how everyone does it. But, yes, I'm anticipating baby squirrels. Maybe I can get my first picture of a little one. That would be cool. :)

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