Friday, January 28, 2011

The Curious Batch..Grey Squirrels




We have a red oak tree with a most convenient hollowed out nesting area. Every year we "hatch" one or two batches of grey squirrels. Often times it is about 5-6 little guys with an average ratio of 1 or 2 being black. The baby squirrels are simply adorable being so small that their tails are longer than their bodies and they look so darn fluffy and soft.
During the winter time, we always put out a heated watering dish for all the wildlife, on our deck, along with throwing out sunflower seeds every day or two. This can sometimes be problematic as food is scare this time of year and the squirrels usually do some heavy-duty squabbling, fighting and quite often attack each other to the point of drawing blood.
This current odd, mutant batch is the first in many ways. One, they never ever fight amongst themselves. In all our 17 years here, this is a first. Second, check out the ears on these guys...they have fluffy, white, longish hair on the outsides of their ears. Most of them have the white ears very pronounced but two have a more normal, grey color to them. Three, they are quite friendly to humans. More than once, I have gone out to throw food and they will just stop and look at me without running away. They are so peaceful and calm. Very rare among squirrels that I have experienced.
They have the most interesting of colors, mostly silver grey backs, white bellies, silver streaks on the outer tail, light brown eye liner, a rusty brown vest and those funny, adorable ears.
Yeah, pretty cool....now you know where my hours spent home alone are used....staring out the window

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