I've never before seen a squirrel in the process of building a nest. Have you?
I haven't even seen a nest until recently. After feeding so many orphans post- hurricane Ike, I started to look for where they'd been flung from during the storm. It was a bad time to look, since almost no leaf nests would have survived the 110 MPH winds, but I did see what I imagined was one.
Then I noticed that there were far more little knobby holes in tree trunks than I'd realized (I guess I thought that was something that only happened in fairie forests or animated films). I've been astonished to see little gray heads sticking out of those when I looked. What timing! That kind of crib I can understand. It has sturdy walls, and a roof to shelter babies from the elements and to stay secure and comfy once grown.
But the other option amazes me -- a large nest suspended between two frail external limbs, woven in some crazy pattern with mere twigs and leaves, done one tiny mouthful at a time. Even birds nests seem comparatively tighter and somehow glued together.
This takes great industry and dedication.
We were strolling Central Park and I was amazed that I hadn't seen one squirrel. Just as we were leaving I saw one digging in a little pile of debris by a barren bush. I watched her scamper up the nearest tree and go all the way to the top, then hop to the next tree and run all the way down to one of those twigggy nests...
I haven't even seen a nest until recently. After feeding so many orphans post- hurricane Ike, I started to look for where they'd been flung from during the storm. It was a bad time to look, since almost no leaf nests would have survived the 110 MPH winds, but I did see what I imagined was one.
Then I noticed that there were far more little knobby holes in tree trunks than I'd realized (I guess I thought that was something that only happened in fairie forests or animated films). I've been astonished to see little gray heads sticking out of those when I looked. What timing! That kind of crib I can understand. It has sturdy walls, and a roof to shelter babies from the elements and to stay secure and comfy once grown.
But the other option amazes me -- a large nest suspended between two frail external limbs, woven in some crazy pattern with mere twigs and leaves, done one tiny mouthful at a time. Even birds nests seem comparatively tighter and somehow glued together.
This takes great industry and dedication.
We were strolling Central Park and I was amazed that I hadn't seen one squirrel. Just as we were leaving I saw one digging in a little pile of debris by a barren bush. I watched her scamper up the nearest tree and go all the way to the top, then hop to the next tree and run all the way down to one of those twigggy nests...
Working quickly, she came back again to the patch of leaves by the bush and began to gather what she deemed to be suitable materials in her mouth. I whipped out my digital camera and caught a little bit of it.
It was so cold out, and only January 2. How could tiny, vulnerable babies survive and thrive in this kind of cold? How could twigs and leaves possibly hold in strong winds as perched here? How can a one pregnant little she-squirrel perform this arduous task? Apparently they do and it and she does.
It's all one big miracle to me!
It's all one big miracle to me!
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9 comments:
Awww...how cute! It's amazing how they survive.
I love the way they run, like ripples through their body, it's like watching super fast sets role in from the ocean....they really are toooo cute!
I have one of those nests in my back yard Syd. It must be an old one tho because I never see anything go to it. Even in the worst of winds, that nest was settled in... it didn't budge. I watched it because if it came down in the blistering cold artic wind (yes I know I'm in NC, but that's what it feels like to me)... even in that wind, it stayed secure.
Great story...excellent video. Love watching these squirells, even tho I have a great many of them in my own backyard.
I mixed a sentence... anyway if it had come down, I wanted to inspect it to see what goodies might be left in it.. other than squirrell or bird poop.
Sorry, had to say it, cause if I didn't someone else would have.
The other day while my furry girls and I were going for a walk a squirrel was cutting a branch of dead oak leaves off a low branch and ran off with it. I assumed it was "feathering" a nest higher in the tree. A few days later we were approaching the same tree when a squirrel fell out of the tree. It went thud on the ground - then picked up it's leaves and ran back up the tree. The little guy must have fallen 10 maybe 12 feet and he didn't even sit there stunned. Just got right up like he meant to do that and ran off. Luckly only I witnessed this and not the girls. He probably sensed we were there so he had to move fast.
Margo
OMG Margo, that's a great little story! So glad you told me about it. They are so little it had to have been a fall of many times greater magnitude than the actual distance. They are such spunky, amusing little creatures.
I just remembered, my great uncle had a pet squirrel. His name was Oscar and he would sit on my uncle's shoulder. My uncle always had peanuts in his pocket and would let us fed them to Oscar. He always brought him to my grandfather's house when he came to visit. When we would go to his house, Oscar was like a dog, he was not caged but ran around and played.
Donna--I read a story on the internet -- not a professional one, but one from someone's personal website about owning an indoor squirrel named Oscar, who apparently lived several years indoors. I wonder if that was the same one?
I am curious -- the squirrel never bit people (especially you as a kid) when getting fed a nut or something? I WANT ONE SO BAD!!!
He never bit me or anyone that I know about. He was like a dog or cat, would come to my uncle when he called. My uncle is in his early 90's now and lives next door to my brother (which is next door to me). But when he had Oscar, he lived in Hialeah, Florida, a surburb of Miami. That was back in the late 60's to early 70's.
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