The garden was visited briefly this morning by the neighbourhood Cooper’s hawk, undoubtedly on the lookout for a meal at our feeders. He stayed just long enough to get a couple of photographs and then departed, still hungry.
I was amused by this Cardinal, looking longingly at the seed(s) that the squirrel was eating … a bit of fraternal competition there.
Just behind him is a large patch of wild carrot plants – he can’t wait for them to grow some more
Scurry the Squirrel – because he scurries and he is an Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) and with a genus like Sciurius naming him Scurry just fits.
Despite being black(ish) he/she is nevertheless a Gray Squirrel, as are the rather less common cream coloured forms.
Tracks of a coyote heading from one hedge line to another
Just a few Viburnum berries left this January, being eagerly eaten by a pair of voracious squirrels.
This fellow has recently set up winter quarters on the northern side of our garden where there are trees and dense shrubs – he spends a lot of time energetically evicting the more relaxed greys.
Gray squirrel (black form) lunching on fresh sunflower seeds.
Long time visitors to this site will have seen this image before – it’s the “best” raccoon portrait I have ever taken (I think) but the recent visitations have not allowed me to better it, so here it it again. Fun creatures so long as they don’t get in your garbage.
