National Maple Syrup Day

Photo by Beebz the Squirrel @SquirrelBeebz

National Brownie Day

Happy National Brownie Day!

Hobo Nickel Squirrel

Hobo nickels are a type of human folk art created by etching and carving coins.  This one is particularly well done.
From ‏@MuhlenSquirrel

Winter is Coming

But some of the trees don't know it.

A tree blooms in December

And some of the squirrels don't know it.

The first day of winter - the winter solstice - is only weeks away.  This time of year, we usually see the big winter coats coming out, along with the cute white mittens and ear muffs.

But so far we haven't been seeing much of that. Another concern: while there are usually many mouths to feed as soon as there's a chill in the air, now there are not so many. Where have all the squirrels gone?

Conjecture: maybe the drought and extreme heat of the summer months killed many of our squirrels. Yes, it's not just happening out west -- the state of New York has also been in a drought, as has the neighboring state of New Jersey. New York is somewhat improved, and is currently in a drought watch, which is the first of four levels of state drought advisories ("watch," "warning," "emergency" and "disaster").

I'm concerned that our little friends may be victims of climate change.

National Cookie Day

Yes, I know it's #NationalCookieDay, but I think I've had a little too much cream filling.

Photo by Beebz the Squirrel @SquirrelBeebz

A Squirrel's Thanksgiving

Wasn't it nice of Peter Cooper Village to put out this spread for us!

is that a squirrel on that pumpkin?

I do believe it is!

Thanksgiving bounty

nibbles

taking a break

it's different...

it's all mine! 

pumpkin diving

digging in

 making headway

God is good!

Happy Thanksgiving to all the little critters!

BT: A Star is Born

Move over Mama - a new ET has arrived! In this case ET stands for enfant terrible, but since we already have an ET (that's Mama, the evil twin) we're calling this new arrival Baby ET, or BT for short.

BT

Today I was able to get up close and personal with BT - well, sort of - when she came over to the big tree where ET likes to sit and sat right on ET's throne.

It's funny to see her mimic ET when she probably doesn't even know what's up yet. It's the old question: how much of behavior is genetic and how much is learned? Well all I can say is that ET has had quite a few generations of babies, and this is the first one I've seen that acts exactly like her. Oh joy, another ET!

Mean Mama

 She's a delight to watch. I call her "she" because of the way she commandeered the tree today. This is common behavior among adult female squirrels, but seeing it in a baby squirrel was cuteness overload. It was so funny to see the baby acting like queen of the universe! She loves chasing her siblings, but I have yet to see her confront ET.

Skirting the issue: don't mess with Mama!

But for now she was just having fun taking on a flock of pigeons that were there searching for edible scraps among the peanut shells. The fact that they were much bigger didn't bother her at all. That's the spirit! The little devil is just like her Mom. Oh, and she's a natural beauty as well. Get ready, boys, here she comes!

The babies are down!

ET's babies have started coming down from the tree! 

In the last few days they've been venturing out of their safety zone, going father afield and sampling some of the bounties of the new world.

Hiding Nuts is Hard Work

National Squirrel Appreciation Day

Happy National Squirrel Appreciation Day! These nutty facts might just make you embrace the bandit, the acrobat, the gardener and the trickster within each squirrel today: http://bit.ly/1CaTF8y

Cats and Squirrels

Cats and Dogs

Post by Stylish Eve.

HALLOWEEN

Spooky

 

Mmmm...

 

Trick

OR

Treat

 

Happy Halloween!

Baby Book

More pics of ET's latest crop of gorgeous babies! They are so funny to watch at this age, as they come down the tree to explore a new world beyond the nest. If you throw them a nut they run the other way! But then they come back to explore (and hopefully find a nut) after the dust settles.

was that a peanut I saw?

The new babies: first glimpse

The babies have just begun to come down the orange tree and we had our first glimpse of them. Gorgeous!

Coming Out

New Guy in Town

ET has met her match: a  gray male  has shown up and has been giving her a hard time.
We thought this was notable as we've never seen ET being challenged before. She has ruled the orange tree for some time now. Usually she delights in chasing squirrels out of her immediate area, pouncing on those that fail to move out of the way fast enough. She even does this with her own offspring. This guy has no problem standing his ground and even pounces on her, making her squeal with anger!

ET

 

 

The newcomer is  young and strong whereas ET has been around the block. The good news is, he's a male, which means he would not be challenging her tree the way a female would.

The Bully

 

The Lame Duck

Yes, I must confess... I've been feeding the ducks on the Cloud 9 raft. There's this one duck that never leaves the raft. I'm not sure why, but apparently he can't swim or fly. So I fed him some bread one day and the next time I came by he recognized me! Each time I pass the raft he wags his tail like a dog. He seems to recognize me even though I'm some distance away. Who could resist that? I can't feed them sushi, so it's just bread. I've been told that bread isn't good for them but they gobble it up. I try to get bread with seeds on top. I also bought a bag of that expensive bird food with seeds and fruit but they don't go for that too much.

If it doesn't look like a duck

If it doesn't look like a duck
doesn't swim like a duck
and doesn't quack like a duck
then it's probably not a duck.

If it looks like a rat
and acts like a rat
then it's probably a rat.

Mr. Rat comes to tea

Showing off my camera

I really like my new camera. It's a Canon Powershot SX510 with a 30x optical zoom. The pictures of the view from my window really are better than before, I think. Here are a few that show what I mean.