Well as I mentioned a few days ago, its getting harder and harder to tell the Squirrels apart now that their coats are changing slightly for the winter. So I have made a chart for myself to help. Although when I see them all lined up like this I can tell instantly who's who.
In order: BERNIE has the most amazing thick coat, grey hands and a very red head.
REDFOOT has a greyer head and also has grey hands but has two very red feet. SNARLY SID is the reddest and smallest of them all. He has red hands and arms and red feet. But his character stands out more than anything.
SQUIZZ is quite grey apart from faint marks on her hands and a red streak down the side of her body. I hope that right? yeah, I think it is.
I realised Mrs Woodpecker wasn't quite so fussy about which feeder she used today as her fat balls have run out and she moved straight over to Mr Woodpeckers Suet feeder without a second thought. Here she is in the tree waiting for me to go back inside.
I tried to do my Suet Square Challenge again today but couldn't beat 8 .I spotted a new hole in the moss today and right next to it were two toadstools.
I found a Squirrel
Dray in the woods today. I had a lovely time
watching 3 squirrels jumping through the bare branches from tree to tree and then in and out of their
Dray. If the weather is
ok tomorrow I will go and try and get some photographs.
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It's lovely watching squirrels - especially near their dray. In fact their drays are amazing in the way they're constructed! Football like in appearance, yet lined with things such as fur, found feathers and as is the case with the squirrels here, wallpaper, sofa innards and magpie nest (they steal their nesting material and it's comical to watch!) and of course, they have their practice drays too - where they learn all their skills and sit there forlornly, with that cute paw tuck as their hard work collapses in front of them - you really feel it for them at that point!!
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, because it's coming up to breeding season for squirrels (40 day pregnancy) there's going to be some mating going on soon too.
They don't breed in their first year, but the 2nd. The female will be on heat for just 24 hours and will mate with any males in the area.
It's all fascinating stuff indeed and I do hope your fabulous brigade of fuzzbutts reward you in the spring with adorable babies for you to become familiar with (and you can always follow the parentage better in winter... we have the white ear tufts, the red ear tufts and the no ear tufts indicating three lots of lineage) and of course, keep the camera at close hand for shots that fill your heart with glee! :-)