I could not believe it when I was walking out of the Rothko Chapel after some kind of mediation meeting there, and I saw a squirrel in a tree actually pulling the newly forming, probably tender and succulent acorns off the branches and having a little snack while balanced within the branches! I whipped out my still camera and took some little movies -- very excited about this first little snippet of footage... He goes to another branch and hopefully you can see his little hands actually grab a pair of acorns, rip them off the branch and clear away the remaining leaves before popping it in his mouth to scurry away. The screen becomes so little on blogger that it might be hard to make out.

As you can see, this was end of Sept or early October, as the branches are still full of leaves. The acorns mature and drop in late October or so; there are many still on the ground everywhere, so it's an extensive Thanksgiving bounty.

And here the little guy pauses at the base of the tree to secure the two nuts in his mouth before heading off with an adorable little hop to bury them....



Sorry about the focus problems... I am always caught with just my little digital still camera and whatever it will capture. Focus in moving pictures is not it's strong point.

I love how thorough they are, little paws covering the thing up with dirt from each side of the hole then patting it down hard with both little paws and all their shoulder muscle put into it... making sure there will be no acorn recession in 2010!!