The Michigan Staring Squirrel

High up in a tree in the big spring forest, I found this fox squirrel staring down at me. I was almost directly below him, but I was still very far away. I stood on the ground pointing my camera at him. And he laid up in the tree pointing his snoot at me. I was now in a staring match with a squirrel. But how did this situation come about?

It didn't start off this way at all, no. As I was walking up the path, all I saw in the tree was a lump laying across one of the high branches of a tall tree. When I looked closer, I could see that not only was it a lump, it was a very furry lump!

After quite a bit of consideration and confusion, I determined the lump was made of fur. And I also determined with my quick and brilliant brain that this obviously must be a squirrel laying up there on that branch. It's pretty easy; tree, branch, lump, fur. Sounds like a squirrel to me. All that was still needed was a little bit of movement.

The movement didn't seem to be happening just yet, so I decided to move around where the sun would give me a bit better angle. I'd be able to see exactly what was going on, and why this squirrel was just laying there on a small branch so high up in that tree. I mean, how is that any way for a fine upstanding squirrel to act?

As I moved in position for the sun to light my view, it hit me! No, not the squirrel! An idea! I knew what the squirrel was doing, and why it wasn't moving. I remembered seeing this kind of thing before. The squirrel was taking a nap on that small branch so high up in the tree. It was fast asleep!

I never thought very much about it before, but this actually shows even more incredible balance than I thought even squirrels had. I knew they were graceful acrobats, but I didn't have any idea that they were so good at it that they could literally do it in their sleep! As a matter of fact, this was only the first of four squirrel I would see this same day sleeping on small tree branches.

Of course, when the squirrel figured out that I was watching him, he began to wake up. He groggily changed his position to get a more advantageous position to stare right back at me. After all, he had to make sure I wasn't able to jump thirty feet or so up in the air to grab him.

And of course, I didn't try to jump thirty feet or so up in the air to grab him. I was fairly sure I wouldn't make it quite that high. So instead I decided to try an alternative. I took these pictures instead. Pictures are easier to share on the internet instead of a whole squirrel anyway.

And that's how I got into this staring match with this squirrel.

At Nature Center Magazine there is another Free Wallpaper for you today. For any of you who don't make your own, you might want to have a look.