Squirrel Hangout

Sometimes I wonder if I should just make this a squirrel photo blog since squirrels seem to be the only thing I take pictures of. Hopefully though as the weather gets nicer I'll have other subjects.

I enjoyed watching this guy in the tree yesterday. I'm really not quite sure why the squirrels like chewing on the trees so much, but thats the life of a squirrel I guess.



This photo didn't turn out so great since I was getting a reflection off the window, but I rarely get a shot of the blue jay (I think they have ESP and know exactly when I'm going to snap the photo so they leave) that I decided I like it.

Balancing in the Sun

Help Out Your Furry Friends

For wildlife, snow and cold can mean disaster or opportunity

For squirrels, the blizzard came at a delicate time: the heart of their first mating season, which usually is from the last week of January through the first few weeks of February.

"This is the time of year they're feeling frisky," said Joel Brown, a biological sciences professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Squirrels, like quails, will be most affected by prolonged snow cover and an inability to find their widely dispersed, buried food caches. People can tell squirrels are desperate if they start eating tree bark, Brown said.

Younger, smaller squirrels will die in larger numbers, with those born last fall the first to go in a harsh winter.

"They're young, and they're too late," Brown said. "They get the smallest food caches and have the least body fat and don't have the experience of adults."

Because of the blizzard, squirrel mortality will be more concentrated rather than spread over several weeks.

Squirrels face additional danger when they dig for food in the snow because they are more exposed to predators like hawks and eagles, Brown said.

We Survived Snowtorious B.I.G.

I had intended to write about the Blizzard last week, but I never got around to it. We survived the Blizzard of 2011, and so my animal friends. In fact I was up somewhat early on Wednesday watching the last of the snow blow in and what was out there blow around and the squirrel showed up at my window looking for some breakfast.

I pretty much stayed in for most of the week after the storm, I didn't have anything to go out to do and its hard moving around out there even with pathways shoveled because there is so much snow piled up. And now the cold has really set in, and I really like to stay in as much as I can stand.


Momma Cardinal out looking for some food after the storm.


Before anyone got outside to shovel the snow or dig out their cars.


Coco enjoying the snow

Enough With the Squirrels

Clearly I need to get out more, even I'm getting tired of taking pictures of the squirrel, especially because they aren't very different from each other.

Answer to His Prayers

It snowed a bit in Chicagoland today and that meant my squirrel friend was back asking for snacks. We put out on the window ledge today some peanuts and a few Triscuits which he gobbled up. Admittedly in this picture he's just eating the peanut, but I thought it looked like he was praying for a treat.



The answer to his prayers.





A woodpecker also stopped by.

Working

I'm not sure why I took a picture of the Comcast guy when he was working in the alley the other day. I'm usually uncomfortable taking photos of people I don't know or who aren't expecting it (I usually make someone else do it - ha!). After I took it I thought about just deleting it, but there is something about the picture I kind of like, so here it is.

Blue Jay

Chickadee

The world was conspiring against me today in terms of photography. I could hear the birds outside the window so I went and got some peanuts to give them. I put them out on the ledge and within minutes observed a beautiful blue jay in the tree scoping out the area. I grabbed my camera, turned it on, and it came up with a memory card error... twice. By the time I got it fixed the blue jay flew away, never to return. The squirrel walked by, but didn't stop and his presence scared off most of the birds for the afternoon. The dogs made sure that any birds that might have thought about coming by wouldn't. I did get a couple pictures of a chickadee before he flew off, which meant my afternoon wasn't a complete waste, just mostly a waste.

The Acrobat

I'm not quite sure what kind of treat he managed to find, but its bigger than his head.

I'm Not the Only One Who Looks Out the Window

Coco the Bedlington Terrier on the lookout for the neighbor dog 'Reggie'.

Waxy Doppelganger

I mentioned how we were feeding and taking photos of the squirrels last year also. Sometimes we put a squirrel candle out on the ledge with some peanuts to see what our furry friends thought of their less-furry counterpart. At first they didn't quite know what to make of it, but eventually they got used to seeing him and it make for some cute shots, this is one of my favorites.

Sweet Feast

Last winter I wasn't able to get out very much because of the cold and snow, so one of the things my Mom, Sister and I did was feed the animals outside and take pictures. The squirrels in particular became fans of ours and the peanuts we put on the window ledge. They even got to the point where they would knock on the window for more food, and were unfazed by Ali our Bedlington Terrier's insane barking through the window (Coco our other dog doesn't care what the squirrels do, she's only interested in the neighbor dog 'Reggie').

I was surprised to see that at least some of the squirrels remember the free food from our window, and now that snow has returned to Chicagoland, they have returned for freebies. I was on the computer this morning when I saw this little guy waiting at the window for a treat. I went and got a remnant from a failed attempt at Christmas cookies and put it out on the ledge while he waited for the treat from the cherry tree.

He was happy for the sweet feast and I was happy for a good shot of one of my favorite little backyard critters. This squirrel has been the subject of many of my pictures in the last week or so... or I think its the same squirrel. I am starting to wonder if he will be happy with plain old peanuts again after the burnt cookies are gone.