As Holly slept on this warm (40°F) day, Lucky showed courage. He stole back some of the straw Holly took from him the other day. She didn’t react. 
Feisty red squirrelThen he raked just a little too close and her head snapped around at him at the 7:13 mark. Lucky found other things to do after that. A Lily Fan captured it all in this 10 ½ minute video https://youtu.be/qmmUQpoWDmw.
Patient red squirrelOut the window, the thawing date mash was unusually attractive to the pair of gray jays that made many trips. For Ms Marten, thawing bacon was on the menu. The picture shows her trying to chew and swallow a piece. Then she disappeared. A nervous red squirrel pointed the way for me, looking toward Ms Marten and stomping its feet. The squirrel could safely dawdle on the branch. With just a few bounds along the branch the squirrel could leap five feet to another tree. The branch shows where squirrels have chewed the bark.
When I went out the door with sunflower seeds, the chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, and white-breasted nuthatches knew what I was bringing and were very attentive.
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| Pine marten | Red-breasted nuthatch | White-breasted nuthatch |
I’ve always heard the misconception that black bears become more likely to attack when they lose fear of people. I’ve never found that to be true. If it were, we couldn’t walk with them like we’ve done for years. But it might be true for the squirrel I met today. I set down the scoop of sunflower seeds on the railing to aim the camera at the birds. A squirrel took them over just 6 inches from my hip. Other squirrels contested for them, but the first squirrel let them know not to even think about it. I started to dip my hand in the seeds next to the confident squirrel and it leaped about 6 inches to hit my hand with its open teeth. No blood. The squirrel was just communicating and didn’t bite down—just like we’ve had some bears do. The squirrel made its point well. I didn’t reach in again.
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| Gray Jays | |
A more peaceful looking squirrel watched me in the window. I think it wanted me to bring out more sunflower seeds.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center