Enjoying the Unexpected

Snow, the first week of December...I haven't seen this in a while.
Arriving Saturday morning (Dec 5th), it stayed for the day, glistening and twinkling by afternoon as it dripped in the airy light. There is something comforting and satisfying about feeding birds when the weather is so cold and uninviting. All of us (me included) fluff up to stay warm. And that includes this sweet wintering White-throated Sparrow captured in the dim overcast light.

His November arrival always makes me smile. And this is the first time I've seen him on the "holly perch", the dead apple tree stump in front of the holly. A favorite perch for birds approaching the feeders, and for those dropping by for a berry snack, he typically prefers hanging out underneath the shrub. But in the midst of all this snow, he seemed to think the perch was a grand idea.

And squirrels. There are many! We seem to have a large batch of late juveniles with irresistable faces and naive curiosity. This one ventured within six feet of me. (Click the image and check out that baby fur!)

Sweet and trouble in one bundle,

their thick winter coats were striking against the snowy blends of gray and white. Add a colorful leaf or two, and we have nature's magic!

Linked to Bird Photography Weekly #67 at Birdfreak.com, to promote the conservation of our world's birds.

More Than Just A Nest

We've all smiled at the acrobatic speed of a squirrel's chase high in the trees. But the determination and agility that goes into cutting and hauling limbs to a nest brings my respect for that agility to a new level.

Building a nest isn't simple. For a squirrel its cutting, dragging, clinging, leaping, tugging, regrouping, all the way back to the nest site. And while watching this squirrel in action, it became

very apparent why she selected limbs within 6-8 feet of the nest.

There's actually a squirrel in the image above. Look for her chin in the upper left. The limb is bigger than she is. Below, she is in the process of getting it back to the nest. The limb snags, she stops to regroup, gets a better hold on it, then tries a different direction.

Success at last. After getting it to the nest and arranging it to suit, she pops back out to gather another limb.
What's all that clicking going on down there?
And she's off to cut another limb.
As I watched her work, I was struck by how much I didn't know about squirrel behavior and their nest building. Question after question arose. This was driven activity. She didn't stop to scold me. She didn't make a sound. She plunged into her task with precision and focus and without a pause. My Audubon field guide says that the Eastern Gray Squirrel mates in mid-winter, that they usually den in a tree cavity in the spring but their second of the season nest may be a leaf nest. Since its early June, I suppose 'usually' is a key word here.

My observations ended when she finished her work and quietly exited on the otherside of the nest. And I'll show you why I'm so curious and wishing for some magical piece of equipment that might allow observation without intrusion. The nest is so accessible. When I took the image below, I was standing about ten feet from the tree, the nest located only about 35 feet high in an immature oak of small diameter. The nest is the dark green triangle near the top of the image.

And if I turn 45 degrees to my left or east, you see my patio. The nest is just outside my window.

Most of the time we pay little attention to squirrels. They're part of the ordinary, seen almost daily and often considered a nuisance. But I developed a different perspective on their lives while observing Red-shouldered hawks. And now this nest outside my window has offered me another.

Another Incredible Nest Builder

This wasn't what I expected at all when I looked up in the tree. I heard a lot of rattling going on and expected to see a large bird, maybe bark falling. But instead I found a squirrel.
She was busy building a nest, called a drey, and once again I watched fresh limb harvesting, a single minded effort that was carried out with such efficiency and tenacity that I stood in awe as I watched. I thought, if only I carried out every task that lay ahead of me with that kind of decisive energy.
Selecting a limb a short distance from the nest, she knawed it loose and carried it back to the nest to weave it into place. I waited for her return, wishing all the while that I could see how she was doing this. As soon as she came out she headed for the next likely limb, making her decision quickly. Some were harder to cut loose than others. Finally, with the limb free, she begins the job of maneuvering it back to the nest.
More about her harvesting skills, next post.

You Gotta' Love the Squirrels

...especially the ones that live in red-shouldered hawk territory.

I watch them go about their activities as though the hawks aren't even there. Other times my eyes scan a tree limb several times before I even notice the squirrel clinging to the branch. They can be so still that I think they may be sleeping. Nothing moves, not even the eyes blink.

On my last visit with the hawks, I spotted a squirrel frozen in place on a limb just under the nest. The female hawk had just landed on a pine limb nearby. I could hardly believe he had gotten himself in that predicament. He was safe for the moment. The female had finished her meal and her mind was on other matters. The male was incubating and couldn't see him. A few seconds later he slinked down the trunk, definitely minimizing attention.
People often complain about squirrels that raid their birdfeeders, ruin fruit by taking one bite or dig in flowerbeds. But I have always enjoyed them and now I have an even deeper appreciation.

Female squirrels may raise two nests a season, numbering as many as eight young, combined. The first brood of squirrel youngsters are moving about while the hawks are feeding their young. The second brood of squirrels are leaving the nest just as the hawk fledglings are learning to hunt. How perfect is that?

And I don't mean that unkindly, favoring one species over another. I mean that nature has provided for the predator as well as the prey.

While I wait for hawk activity, I enjoy the squirrels. They move about with a perfect combination of alertness and oblivion, an awareness level that allows them to live and thrive right along side skillful predators.

If you love hawks, you've gotta' love the squirrels, too.

Ink and watercolor sketches in 5x7 Holbein Multi-Drawing sketchbook.