Saturday, March 6, 2010

Just Plain Squirrelly

I love fox squirrels. Because they are not all that common, seeing one is a treat. This one was sitting in the middle of a country highway we were driving in Jefferson County on Sunday afternoon. Then it went all squirrelly and ran first to the left and then back to the right and finally settled back in the middle.

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While we were waiting for it to decide where it would run next, a truck started barreling over the hill in the oncoming lane. Just before it arrived at our spot, out of NOWHERE, another, much darker fox squirrel ran from one side across in front of the truck tires and made it (SOMEHOW) safely to the other side and disappeared into the woods! The first squirrel eventually hopped over to the side and up a scrubby tree.

At home, we have a struggle with the neighborhood squirrels being out of balance. There are WAY too many for each yard. So after dealing with their damage, we have begun to limit the number in our yard by means of a very humane box trap. Last week, we trapped and deported seven gray squirrels. Two more this week have been removed.

Squirrel holding cell:

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On Sunday, when we arrived home from our little drive when I took the above shots, we found the trap guarded by a neighbor’s cat.

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But instead of another squirrel, there was a cardinal in the trap.

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The cat left as B arrived and released the cardinal.

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