The Green Trap
Who put the peanuts in this remnant of
St. Patrick's Day revels?
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| Hey...no way I'm goin' in there. |
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| Think I'm NUTS? |
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| Hey...what the heck! 'Beannachtam na Feile Padraig!' |
THE NEW YORK SQUIRREL: Tails Of The City
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Wary of the Green
Who put the peanuts in this remnant of
St. Patrick's Day revels?
Monday, March 12, 2012
Cherry Blossom Homes
There's a new development being built in PCV at the moment. Impromptu nests are appearing overnight throughout the cherry tree area. New ones are showing up each day, as enterprising and imaginative squirrels take adavantge of the great setting.
Venue:
These are two of the stunning approaches:
Western approach:
Eastern approach:
Accomodations
Nests tend to be small, in perfect proportion to the size of the trees, thus showing great engineering aptitude.
Some of the more commanding nests:
Amenities
The new homes take advantage of the spectacular views afforded by the
lovely (albeit ephemeral) surroundings.
Security is excellent. No hawks, however sharp-sighted, will be able to find their prey through all the blossoms. And you can be sure in the unlikely event that they do, a "pink alert" will get sounded well in advance of the intrusion. Note: There was a hawk hanging out in a tree right on the edge of the cherry tree field during the winter months but it has not been sighted in a while:
Activities
For youngsters, there's always plenty to do. The youngest squirrels have a great setting for doing their acrobatics on the network of small branches that surround each home. It's a healthful environment for them as well,
with plenty of tender buds and blossoms to snack on between acts.
Visitors
Canine visitors are of course permitted, so long as they are well-tethered:
Members of the squirrel family are more or less welcome. The more the merrier, as they say!
Residents
A few of the contented residents of Cherry Blossom Homes:
Venue:
These are two of the stunning approaches:
Western approach:
Accomodations
Nests tend to be small, in perfect proportion to the size of the trees, thus showing great engineering aptitude.
Some of the more commanding nests:
Amenities
The new homes take advantage of the spectacular views afforded by the
lovely (albeit ephemeral) surroundings.
Security is excellent. No hawks, however sharp-sighted, will be able to find their prey through all the blossoms. And you can be sure in the unlikely event that they do, a "pink alert" will get sounded well in advance of the intrusion. Note: There was a hawk hanging out in a tree right on the edge of the cherry tree field during the winter months but it has not been sighted in a while:
Activities
For youngsters, there's always plenty to do. The youngest squirrels have a great setting for doing their acrobatics on the network of small branches that surround each home. It's a healthful environment for them as well,
with plenty of tender buds and blossoms to snack on between acts.
Visitors
Canine visitors are of course permitted, so long as they are well-tethered:
Members of the squirrel family are more or less welcome. The more the merrier, as they say!
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| Master Alphie stops by for lunch |
A few of the contented residents of Cherry Blossom Homes:
Sunday, March 11, 2012
A squirrel's life
It's a squirrel's life -- romping in the sunshine and cherry blossoms. Then along comes a feeder -- life is good! Find the squirrels:
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| finis |
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
Spunky's mystery continues
Bernie arrived with a long pole that could be used to dislodge the dead squirrel from the tree.
He poked around up there.
In the morning light we could clearly see that there was no squirrel there, and not even a hole really - just a small dent in the tree, above which, by the real hole, a black squirrel sat watching us. Spunky.
Had yesterday's squirrel been a figment of my imagination? I could have sworn I'd seen a tail, a face -- eyes, nose, mouth. Had the play of light and shadow made it look like a squirrel that was not really there? A mystery, like the disappearing cheshire cat.
Next we tried to get Spunky to come down from the tree but she retreated into the hole. So Bernie got the idea of sending up a peanut. He taped the peanut to the end of the pole.
From within, Spunky immediately tore both the nut and the tape from the pole! We then proceded to serve up a few more. She had a decent lunch.
He poked around up there.
In the morning light we could clearly see that there was no squirrel there, and not even a hole really - just a small dent in the tree, above which, by the real hole, a black squirrel sat watching us. Spunky.
Had yesterday's squirrel been a figment of my imagination? I could have sworn I'd seen a tail, a face -- eyes, nose, mouth. Had the play of light and shadow made it look like a squirrel that was not really there? A mystery, like the disappearing cheshire cat.
Next we tried to get Spunky to come down from the tree but she retreated into the hole. So Bernie got the idea of sending up a peanut. He taped the peanut to the end of the pole.
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| peanut on a pole |
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| hoisting the pole up to the hole |
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| room service! |
But Spunky never came out of the hole again. I checked back later in the day, but there was no sign of her. At least I knew that she'd had some peanuts. We're trying to understand Spunky's strange behavior. Why does she stay in the hole or sit outside the hole and refuse to come down? And when she does come down, why does she soon hurry back to the hole? We still don't know if there is a nest of babies in there, which is about the only thing that would make sense. But she hadn't looked pregnant before and doesn't look like she's nursing now. There is still a mystery to be solved with Spunky.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Spunky's Secrets
Spunky's strange story continues. If you've been following along, you know there's been quite a mystery about what's going on with Spunky. Today things got even stranger. Just to recap, shortly after Spunky was discovered to be having hair problems, she disappeared. I was afraid she had died and then miraculously, she appeared two days ago, just as Bernie and I were leaving the park after the second of two feedings that day.
http://thenewyorksquirrel.blogspot.com/2012/03/spirit-of-spunky-squiggy.html
We could hardly believe our eyes, but it was definitely her! She ate exactly one grape and one nut, then ran away, back up into her tree. This seemed like strange behavior. The next day when I went there again, and Spunky was the first squirrel to come over to me. It was almost like old times: she hopped up on the bench and ate like she used to. But she only ate a few nuts before hopping down and running back up her tree. Bernie suggested that her strange behavior along with the sudden strange hair loss, might indicate that she'd had babies. I agreed, although I had not noticed that she looked pregnant.
But things got curiouser and curiouser. When I arrived today there was no sign of Spunky on the ground. I went over to her tree and kept calling her name. Then I thought I saw her up there by the hole looking down at me. Or was she sleeping? I took a picture and when I got home I was able to clearly see the face of a squirrel. See if you can see it (click to enlarge):
I must have played with the other squirrels a good 45 minutes before Spunky finally came down. She ate a few nuts.
http://thenewyorksquirrel.blogspot.com/2012/03/spirit-of-spunky-squiggy.html
We could hardly believe our eyes, but it was definitely her! She ate exactly one grape and one nut, then ran away, back up into her tree. This seemed like strange behavior. The next day when I went there again, and Spunky was the first squirrel to come over to me. It was almost like old times: she hopped up on the bench and ate like she used to. But she only ate a few nuts before hopping down and running back up her tree. Bernie suggested that her strange behavior along with the sudden strange hair loss, might indicate that she'd had babies. I agreed, although I had not noticed that she looked pregnant.
But things got curiouser and curiouser. When I arrived today there was no sign of Spunky on the ground. I went over to her tree and kept calling her name. Then I thought I saw her up there by the hole looking down at me. Or was she sleeping? I took a picture and when I got home I was able to clearly see the face of a squirrel. See if you can see it (click to enlarge):
Her back looked better, I thought -- no open sore this time. I decided to give her a special treat: a peanut butter cracker! In typical squirrel fashion, she ran off with her treasure: back up the tree.
I could see her sitting by the hole eating her cracker. It was then that I noticed that the squirrel I'd seen earlier was still sitting there. So it hadn't been Spunky and it hadn't moved. If you look carefully you can see Spunky sitting in the back and the other squirrel sitting in the front.
That squirrel had been there all along, and had never moved. I watched it for a while: the tail never moved. In contrast, the black squirrel behind it (Spunky)would move from time to time. I was thinking that the motionless squirrel was either sleeping or dead. Now I wondered if it was blocking the entrance to the hole, and Spunky's access to her babies. She did not seem particularly agitated but she sat there constantly, as if keeping watch. I could not get her to come down again.
This little tableau was the way I left them when I eventually had to go. By then I was pretty sure that the front squirrel was a dead squirrel. But was it keeping Spunky from getting to her babies? That was the question. Tomorrow we will go back and to see if the "sleeping squirrel" is still there.
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