Mah feets get itchy when the weather’s nice, so I took a lone walk to North Creek on a warm spring afternoon. The ducks there have gotten rather insistent about feeding. They pull awful guilt-trips if I show up empty-handed, as you’ll see in a future post. I try not to feed them too often, but I did take along a bit of food that day, so as to pay my respects and stop disappointing the poor little buggers.
This time, the ducks weren’t the only ones begging. We had two crows show up instantly, although they were too wary to actually partake of the feast.
And there was the most adorable squirrel in the universe.
D’aw!
I did my utmost to make sure it got its share. This can be difficult with the ducks around.
The little squirrel would spend most of its time over by the tree, several yards off the path, and after it finished a morsel, it would sit there and watch for a few minutes before darting up for another helping.
Two little girls appeared as I was in the midst of being mobbed. They became my able assistants. They even got the timid little squirrel to take a bit from their hand. This is why I shall never be a parent – I didn’t realize they were trying, and so didn’t give the lecture on possible rabies and wild critters are unpredictable and so forth. I fail at parenting. I also fail at not feeding animals by hand. The ducks here will actually snatch morsels right from your fingers if you let them, and I can’t resist allowing it. I fail at being a good steward of semi-wild animals. At least I don’t try to ride wild buffalo. Sigh.
The little squirrel would sometimes put itself behind the beaver-barrier around one of the trees, as if it were overwhelmed by all the humanity. Super-cute.
I love these peaceful spring days along the creek. They’re very good for getting in a touch of exercise and thinking things through. Then it’s home to the reading and writing and the elderly cat lounging in a sunbeam. Now if I could just make headway on these books, that would be great…
Have a very cute squirrel grabbing foodstuffs, and enjoy your day!
That’s a very plump and well-fed squirrel. Lovely coat colour!
Insert the usual “invasive species” downer here. Sorry. It’s still very cute.
I was wondering what the fencing was for. “Beaver Barrier” huh? Interesting.
Wait… squirrels are invasive? Wiki says they’re not!
The local squirrels are far different in appearance and less brave in behaviour, hence the entire Choir’s excitement upon seeing squirrels and squirrels and more squirrels while over in Canada in the summer…
That’s an Eastern Gray Squirrel. Our native Douglas Squirrels are about half the size and red. They can’t compete in an urban environment, but seem to do all right out in the worlds.
Gray squirrels are also a major problem in Britain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_gray_squirrel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_squirrel
Sigh. Out in the WOODS, not out in the worlds. We can haz edit function, please?
I love the way squirrel has its tail in alert position during the whole approach-and-grab as if it’s ready to signal danger then drops its tail on retreat. Cute!