American Koala Bear

For my story today I'll feature a typical short eared American Koala Bear. Most people think koalas are only in Australia, but here's my picture to prove it's real. Obviously it's a little different than its Australian cousin, but the tree hugging pose is still the same.

Wait! Stop! I know, I know! I'm a huge liar! This is no Koala of any kind, but the squirrels wanted me to tell you that it was. It's just a normal everyday Fox Squirrel. This is the second one to pose for me like that this week. Unfortunately my camera malfunctioned the first time.

And just look at the happy smile on its face. I couldn't say no to the lies it wanted me to tell. Could you say no to that face? I was so eager to keep from getting into another war with the squirrels that I jumped at the chance to help them out. I completely forgot that squirrels are all nuts.

This is a chubby little squirrel isn't it? I was walking down the trail towards the pond to see how the tadpoles were doing, when this little mischief maker appeared on the side of this tree. I had trouble seeing the squirrel at first, but it climbed up higher and posed so I could get a good long look.

I'm glad I've been experimenting with my camera settings, because every picture I took of this squirrel came out clear. Things aren't at all perfect yet though. I changed to a mode called Program AE so I could increase the ISO speed. It fixed the blurriness but it replaced it with awful graininess. You can see it if you look closely at the picture.

I think I have fixed that since then, but I haven't had time to test it outside quite yet. I'll be doing that soon. I'm hoping I have a few things solved. If not, I know a few other things to change. It should work out well.

This last picture is what I saw when I first looked over at the sound I heard just to my right. I have actually arranged these photos in reverse order. I did it so you can see that sweetly smiling face of the squirrel before you see anything else. I just couldn't resist. The little critter seemed so happy!

I don't have a clue as to what the reason is, but these squirrels seem to like me now for some odd reason. Maybe it's because they think I'm nuts too. Or maybe it's because I stand there stupidly grinning at them when I see them. This one was just being polite and smiling back at me. It really just wanted to be a c-lebrity.

Okay, I think that's enough for today. Did you ever think you would see an actual American Koala Bear? Did you ever really believe this squirrel was a koala? Think how cool that would be!