The Cicadas are Coming!

The Cicadas are Coming!

We've been told that they're on their way, and will soon be erupting from beneath the ground, where they have been waiting for 17 years to come out.

The babies are down!

Today for the first time I saw Gray Momma's babies coming down from the tree! It was a rainy afternoon with not many people around so maybe it was a good time for them to  go exploring.

Squirrels of Peter Cooper Village Part 2

 

More pictures from guest blogger, photographer Gary Rabenko:

 

Please?  Don’t make me compete with all those young-uns!

Squirrels of Peter Cooper Village

Renowned photographer and squirrel afficionado Gary Rabenko came to Peter Cooper Village with his camera and took these wonderful photos.

In the photographer's own words:



This one illustrates the problem Gray Momma has: the cautious
and ever stressed squirrel, frantic and possessive.
 

Gray Lady

The Essential Gray Momma

Isn't She Lovely!

Spring Squirrel Season

 

It's a wonderful time of year to be out shooting squirrels.

Spanky and the Gang

Spanky
 

One of Spunky's young ones from a previous litter who is a carbon copy of Spunky in looks and personality, has thus earned the name Spanky.



Hot Tails

Yumm...

Just as the trees and flowers are blooming everywhere now, squirrel tails are also blooming. The squirrels have finally shed their heavy winter coats and are now showing off their crowning glory. We see all sorts of color changes going on:

Gray Momma and her Brood

Gray Momma is still busy raising her babies. At the moment they are still married to their tree and show no inclination to come down. But they're exploring the world from afar. Ive been feeding the squirrels near their tree so GM can be close by. When a large gathering occurs they like get very curious about what's going on down below. Maybe they will come down one of these days!

  

GM watches her babies from a branch above

Rainy Day Squirrel

what a revoltin' developmemt this is!

Spunky the Milk Truck

I think Spunky just had her babies. Amazingly,  her formerly black fur has changed to a beautiful auburn color with this pregnancy. It's fascinating to watch squirrels change colors. They are constantly going through changes. It's almost like a fashion competition among the PCV brown squirrels: who has the latest look? As usual, she comes up on the bench,  sits next to me and delicately dips into the bag of nuts. She is extremely hungry, which  I guess is because she's feeding babies. If it weren't for her big appetite I'd think she was still carrying babies, because she's such a round ball. But I'm told this can be due to the fact that she's carrying lots of milk!

click to enlarge

Hello!

It's me, Spunky!

Babies!

 

 

Gray Momma's babies were peeking out at the world yesterday!

See if you can find them:



click on a picture to enlarge it

Hello World!
a black and two grays 



two grays with momma watching



a gray and a black



two grays



a gray and a black



a gray with momma





While the proud mother relaxed below
 

Where she had her own audience!



Beautiful Squirrels

on a beautiful day!

click to enlarge a picture

 

American Squirrel

Here are more pics of Gray Momma and her tree. Her babies should be starting to come down the tree soon. I'm so looking forward to seeing them!

Gray Momma's Tree

the branch below the flag is the branch to her den

 

Cinnamon Squirrel

What are little squirrels made of?

Sugar and spice and everything nice!

Pretty little Cinny is the surviving sibling of poor little Cinnamon who froze to death last January. 

Due to that wispy tail, Cinny is the fastest squirrel around, and is usually seen speeding  across the landscape or zipping up a tree to the highest branch. 

Cinny loves to run! And I love watching Cinny. Or Cinny's tail, that is (which most of the time is all I get to see).