First an update on the squirrels nesting on my office windowsill. They’ve now built two nests on the same ledge, one open to the sun and one shaded by ivy leaves. They move between them as the sun gets higher, starting out in the sun-exposed spot and then moving beneath the ivy leaves during the hot afternoon. They aren’t around in the morning, but appear to take their naps around midday. And they must surely sleep at night, but I’m not around to check.
As I noted before, I can’t get good pictures of them because of a dirty and un-openable window and an intervening screen. Nevertheless, here they are:
When there is more than one using the nest, they’re always cuddled up together, which is really cute.
And reader Gary U sends a photograph of his hummingbird feeder, with this note:
This is what happens when the bee guard breaks off of your hummingbird feeder. We watched these guys drain the feeder in just a couple of hours.
Taken with a simple HP PhotoSmart M547 at my parents’ home just outside of Cincinnati, OH.
Do the hummingbirds migrate?
Ah! Answered my own question! duh…
http://www.worldofhummingbirds.com/migration.php
And talking of migration, there is an article in Nature Neuroscience about human cryptochrome sensitivity that may be of interest – http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v2/n6/full/ncomms1364.html
AW, SKWERLS MAKEZ BUNDLE OV CUTE!
[Skwersl? LOLcat translator iz brokd – surely it shud be sqrlz!?]
Unfortunately, when bebbeh skwerls snuggle too tightly, their tails become entangled and they are immobilized. Tree sap acts like glue. They starve to death eventually.
eek! sort of squirrelonastick?
Dude, you’re harshing our d’awww!
I would like to have a pet squirrel. I had some interaction with a wild squirrel a while back, and she quickly became quite tame. Article in the newspaper says raising a baby squirrel results in an obese squirrel who does not have a clue about natural foods. I would like to tame down a wild squirrel and feed it, an occasion, a nut or bit of carrot. Unfortunately, I see a squirrel passing through at most once a year, so not easy to tame one down if I don’t have one.
Srsly, google “squirrels tangled tails”. Lots of gruesome pics. And I didn’t mean to spoil anyone’s day! My apologies to all.
Eeeuw! I notice a lot of the cases involved discarded fishing line, twine, etc. Sad.
I examined a barn swallow nest this spring and found a long length of fishing line woven into it. There was also a dead, near-fledgling-stage baby swallow in it.
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/779/dsc07726irfbftd.jpg
That is nothing to the grim results of the same material in the water, alas –
http://swns.com/swan-suffers-horrific-injuries-after-swallowing-fishing-hooks-231141.html
But not the swimming moggy story on the right…
>:o
At least that ended well!
Awww @ those squirrel pics!!
Thanks for posting my pic on your web site!
Which is a very interesting shot, BTW! For some reason I don’t have that problem with my hummer feeder, though it has no bee guard that I know of and I’d think we have enough hymenopteran spp that at least one would be interested. (Maybe I should have said I don’t have that problem yet…)