We’ll take a short break from “readers’ wildlife photos” to celebrate everyone’s favorite rodent, the squirrel. First, go read the short appreciation of squirrels by Avi Steinberg in the New York Times, “Letter of Recommendation: Squirrels.” An excerpt (the reference to the yarmulke is about a squirrel once absconding with Steinberg’s beanie and taking it up a tree):
Squirrels, though, are right there with us. They live on our level and toil on the same schedule as humans, in every season. They share our approach to life’s problems: They save and plan ahead, obsessively. They make deposits and debits (of nuts and seeds, mostly); build highways (returning to well-known routes in and around trees); manage 30-year mortgages (they can inhabit a single nest for that many years); refrigerate their staples (in their case, pine cones); and dry their delicacies for storage (mushrooms, as we do). They work the day shift and live in walk-up apartments. And like stock traders, they gamble in the marketplace. While most animals breed as food becomes available, squirrels have developed the ability to predict a future seed glut and reproduce accordingly, like bullish investors.
. . . Squirrel panic is not unknown in our country. According to an anti-squirrel website, John C. Inglis, former deputy director of the N.S.A., supposedly said, “Frankly, the No. 1 threat experienced to date by the U.S. electrical grid is squirrels.” Of course the counterargument is so ethically unambiguous it’s no wonder an N.S.A. officer would miss it. The problem, as always, is our own rapacious overuse of energy, our own monstrous overbuilding of infrastructure, not the few squirrels who are the ensnared victims of it.
We would do well to take small acts of squirrel sabotage as a gift, a free warning about overstepping boundaries and a reminder of the need to share. Minor clashes with squirrels, the occasional breaches in the grid or the loss of a yarmulke here or a kumquat there serve only as reminders that we can, if we choose, afford to live in respectful peace with our neighbors.
We have made a truce with the squirrel, and we have done so because, in our own animal hearts, we know we’d lose something precious if earth’s trees — our own former homes — no longer chuckled with the sounds of mammal home life. Gardens are meant to be shared. And as for my former yarmulke, it was put to better and more lasting use as nest insulation for the winter. Let us not forget history. When European settlers landed in the New World, they nearly hunted the gray squirrel into extinction. So who, I ask, is the pest?
And if you’re gonna kvetch about squirrels, don’t bother. If you talk about eating them, you’ll be banned. After all, they were here before we were, so what gives us the right to exterminate them?
As you may remember, the enlightened Washington Post has a “squirrel week” feature, with articles by squirrel maven John Kelly and reader photos. Yesterday Kelly put up the 17 best photos from the Reader Squirrel Photo contest. I’ll put up a couple, but if you love these furry rodents like I do, you’ll go look at them all. I’ve put Kelly’s captions up before the photos.
The winner of the contest is first, and it’s a doozy:
We’ll start with the winner. Pam Lettie’s photo of an acrobatic squirrel reminds me of a tap-dancer doffing his top hat. Wrote Pam: “For the first 15 years we lived in our home in Clarke County, Va., we didn’t have any squirrels. Now, that situation has changed, and we see squirrels everywhere.” So do I, Pam, so do I.
What’s better than one squirrel — or worse, depending on how you feel about squirrels? Three squirrels! (Photo by Kristy Casto, who calls these squirrels the Scratlins.)
Of course, even determined squirrels can find themselves in trouble. John Cochran hadn’t screwed the top on his “squirrel-proof” bird feeder down all the way. “The squirrel hung upside down from a branch above and worked at it with his front paws until he got inside,” John wrote. “He’d hit the jackpot. Then one of his squirrel buddies knocked the top back on. This photo captures the moment when he realized that he’d been trapped. He got back out, but it took him a little while.”
Squirrel tails are a marvel of engineering. Lisa Novak spotted this squirrel in the courtyard of the building where she works, effortlessly twisting the end of its tail into a circle.
Curiosity killed the cat, but might it be dangerous for the squirrel, too? (Photo by Lou DeFalaise.)
Finally, yesterday I fortuitously received this photo taken by reader Anne-Marie Cournoyer near Montreal: it’s a melanistic squirrel with a brown tail (they sometimes have a mixture of colors). Her caption: “
We met someone special today! Isn’t he a cute one?! His tail has been bleached 🙂
h/t: Matthew Cobb. John D. S.
I am fortunate to have plenty of squirrels to look at everyday. It’s just second nature. Besides food, trees are the essential requirement to attract and keep the squirrels and large oak trees do not happen overnight. Most of ours here are 100 to 150 years old and the squirrels love them.
All delightful images.
I put out a few almond or pecans in the shell for the squirrels every day, but of course they still raid the birdfeeders for sunflower seeds. Lately they (along with many of the birds) have been feasting on the fruits of my loquat tree. In spite of that, and in spite of a freak hailstorm last week, I had enough loquats remaining to make 6 pints of jam yesterday. There are still many more unripe loquats on the tree – there’s enough for all.
We have the same grey squirrels in the UK as you. Our gardens and urban parks are full of them and many can be hand fed. They are American in origin however and have out competed the UK red squirrels almost to extinction. (Where have I read that story before?)Fortunately a few reds have hung on in out of the way places and are said to be making a comeback. They are so pretty.
A delightful posting. I do not deliberately feed our local sqrlls but they abound anyway. We have some apple trees and they sure to like the wind fallen apples in the Fall.
My favorite disney characters were squirrels: Chip and Dale (“Knabbel en Babbel” or “Chew and Talk” in Dutch).
Chip and Dale, of course, were chipmunks rather than conventional squirrels, though all are in the family Sciuridae.
Chipmunks?! I have believed all my life that they were ground squirrels! This is what it must feel like to lose religion. 🙁
On the bright side: I have actually learned something new today.
Why do you think one was called “Chip”?
I thought it had something to do with wood chips. It never occured to me that Chip refers to chipmunk, although it’s obvious now. I wonder how I could have missed that.
Just keep them away from the maple sap! 😉
“After all, they were here before we were, so what gives us the right to exterminate them?”
So were termites, rats, mosquitoes, cockroaches and silverfish. That doesn’t mean I want them in my house, gallivanting about.
Your usual rationality disappears when it comes to small furry animals.
Okay, well, go over to some other website and accuse the host of irrationality. Bye.
I met squirrels and red-eye white lab rats around the same time period. I think squirrels gain huge advantage by their furry tails. If the red eye lab rats have showy tails like what the squirrels have, they would be adopted as pets all the time…Think about Hili has a naked long piglet tail hanging around,,,, how do you feel?
Since you ask, I think rats take a bad rap for their tails. And they make very entertaining, affectionate pets. 🙂
First pic reminds me of Fred Hamster
A good friend of mine had squirrels in the back yard nesting. Somehow, one of the babies ended up on the ground. His young daughter (well on her way to becoming a vet) nursed it to adulthood. It was a tame pet. eventually, it was released into the neighborhood and apparently survived. Still came around for noms regularly!