Pinky

 I haven't seen Pinky in over a week now. Sometimes squirrels disappear and then reappear, but Pinky was usually always there, somewhere around his little corner of the park over by the east flagpole. I've been seeing the other black babies almost daily, and have been on the lookout for him. Then yesterday I ran into Grace, and it kind of reminded me of one of those RPG's where you wander around the village speaking to various villagers to get clues needed to go on with the game. Grace told me that she saw a cat chasing a squirrel over by the playground, which is not that far away from Pinky's playground. Based on her description, sounds like the big black and white cat that used to hang out by the water fawcet near the west flagpole last winter. Grace thinks it's a stray, and as she said, "a cat needs to eat".

I pray that this is not what happened to Pinky! While he already had an exceptional personality, he may not have been big enough or strong enough or fast enough yet to contend with a cat (that can also climb trees).

 Pinky was not shy like most baby squirrels. One time when he hadn't seen me for a while he came running over and jumped up on my bag, clinging to it for dear life! He'd also jump up on the bench to be fed, which was unusual behavior for a baby squirrel. He might have learned that from Spunky. Marc, our squirrel trainer friend,  says babies learn by mimicking what they observe their mothers doing. And Spunky loves sitting on the bench with me. I'm pretty sure he's one of her  babies. Like mother, like squirrel. 

I think Pinky and Black Patch came from the same nest environment. Here is
Black Patch a month ago.

June 3 - Black Patch

July 4 - Black Patch
Today he is almost totally healed, with a small barely visible patch on his back which you can't even see in these pictures.

June 14 - Pinky
But you can see that his sibling Pinky got hit worse with the malady that displays as hair  loss. It is most likely mange, which is caused by a tiny mite that inhabits the nest.  We often see this in the babies around here, and their immune systems are usually quickly able to overcome it. That's one of the reasons  why we pay special attention to their nutritional needs, making sure that they get fed, in spite of ever-present interference from competitive larger squirrels around them. 

Pinky Eating a Cherry

June 19 - Pinky

He may not have been the "prettiest" squirrel but he certainly was the cutest. And he had a great personality, just like his mother. I hope I see Pinky again.

August 2 - I saw Pinky today!
I'd swear this is Pinky's face. What do you think?

Pinky then

 

And now

 

minus the pink

And he has Pinky's personality. Not too shy, gets up close and personal, doesn't scare away. That was Pinky's behavior. I remember once he was so excited to see me that he jumped up and hitched a ride on the bottom of my bag! But why did he disappear for such a long time? I wish I had the answer. Squirrels are such mysterious creatures.