Back To The Forest

It's time for me to go back to the forest. It seems as if I've been out of this comfortable home of mine for quite some time. The forest is the place I go to feel at peace. It may be the only place I really feel alive. All of my problems melt away when I'm surrounded by the dark cool cover of so many trees. And my friends are all there waiting for me.

When I got well and good inside this quiet forest I saw an animal shape in front of a fallen log off to my left. It looked like it might be a squirrel of some kind, so I knew I had found my first friend of the day. Upon closer inspection I discovered that this creature was much bigger than any tree squirrel, and after a closer look I discovered that my new friend was a Groundhog. The first one I've ever seen inside the forest.

After walking for at least another mile I happened upon some true tree squirrels this time. Oh sure, a groundhog is actually a type of squirrel too, but as its name suggests, it's a ground squirrel. The tree squirrels are the ones with the attitudes that I like so well. I like all the others, but I have a special feeling for these little devils.

The particular tree squirrels I found here were two Black Squirrels that were chasing each other around a tree. The forest was actually very dark here, but it looked brighter high up in the trees. I like to call black squirrels the ninjas of the forest. A ninja dresses in dark colors to conceal himself and he moves like a ghost. A black squirrel does much the same thing in his forest home. Very hard to see, and even harder to photograph. You might want to click on the photo to get a better look.

And then it took me almost my whole trip through to finally get a picture of this little guy. It was almost as soon as I got in the forest that I heard the scurrying sounds all around me. They almost never ceased as I walked for miles through this place. There might have been thousands of these creatures, but they hid themselves very well.

I caught a few glimpses of these Chipmunks along the way, but they were always too fast for my camera. That is until this little one stopped just long enough for me to get this picture. Chipmunks are actually also a type of squirrel. All three of these creatures that I've shown are members of the Sciuridae family, which is the technical name for squirrels.

There were other creatures out here with me, but the squirrels were the ones I encountered most often. I'm glad they were because they are some of the most sociable animals there are. And for some reason the squirrels of this particular forest seem to have grown a little bigger than I usually see. It must be a good place to call home.