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| Our Official Blog: Reflections from 1st ~ Inspirations from sycamore |
 I find that it is not often that I have the time to do many of the things which, at least in my idealized world, I would be able to do. Writing is always high among those things which I "ought" to do more of, but which I usually "tend" to do less of, at least in the last year or so. It seems to me that when I do make the time, I find it highly productive and always cathartic. So, having a little time this morning, here are a few reflections, or musings as my aunt would call them, on the state of things here.
Part I: The Life of Squirrels
You know, it's really funny. I have spent pretty much all of my life in and around the woods and the furry woodland creatures which inhabit them. Yet it took me going to New York City or all places to really get to see some of the more interesting sides of animal domestic life.
In the past few weeks I have been paying special attention to the squirrels in the complex where I live, as almost every large tree has a nest somewhere in it, or if not, then in an adjacent tree. One morning about two weeks ago I was walking out and happened to look up and see a mother squirrel sitting in a hollow of the tree with what looked to be about 3 little babies nursing on her belly. What was particularaly interesting was watching here navigate moving around the tree, up and down around the hole, while also trying to make sure the babies did not fall off.
This required quite a lot of skill, or at least it seemed to me, as she would sometimes hang with one hand while she reached around with the other to get a different grip. While doing this she would strategically wrap her tail around her side as a sort of baby sling as she moved around. The whole scene lasted for less than a minute, but it was the first time I had seen a squirrel nursing in a tree while going about its daily routine. (As an interesting note, this would seem to be the wrong time of year to be nursing babies, as usually grey squirrels breed in Feb/Mar and June/July...?).
The second squirrel adventure was even more interesting to watch, and was also a first. Our kitchen window looks out from the 3rd floor into a courtyard area with several large sycamore and oak trees, two of which have squirrel nests in them at about the 2nd floor level. One day last week I was looking out as I had my morning coffee and happened to catch a young grey squirrel with a long, thin twig in his mouth. He was fairly far out on one of the branches and was working his way back towards the trunk and the nest below. And this is where I thought it was really interesting.
I've always been amazed at the squirrel's agility and grace in a tree, but this was a performance par excellence. You see, the problem was that the stick was just long enough, and had just enough of a Y and a few side shoots, to make it fairly awkward. So here is this little squirrel--who judging by the size was a juvenile from last spring--carrying this twig that is at least twice his size down this skinny little branch and getting stuck every 6-8" on another branch or twig in its way. Every so often it would would switch and grab the branch in its hands, move it around an obstacle, and then grab it back in its mouth again. It did this for about five minutes until it had finally gotten past the branches and into the drey (nest); which in this case was both a tree hollow and a nest in one (talk about fancy living).
Having accomplished that, the squirrel then tried to pull the stick into the hole of the tree hollow, but as the stick was too long, it was having quite a problem. After about a minute of pushing and pulling it appeared to give up and left the stick in the nest and went over to the adjoining tree to join a few others juvenile squirrels playing there. A minute or two later one of those squirrels came over and began to try and work the stick into the nest, but also had the same problems. But then it took the stick in its mouth, began to climb down and around the tree, and in the process fumbled with it, almost dropped it twice, and then finally on the third try dropped it altogether. It looked down, seemed as if it was going to go after it, and then scampered off into the previous tree it had been in.
All that work for nothing, I thought to myself. But perhaps that's how it is?
Incidentally, it also appears that squirrels have played quite a role in the history of my old state of Ohio, as well as my new home of NYC. Here's two snippets to highlight this from the Scholarly Squirrel:
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In the late 18th century, the squirrel population in Ohio ballooned to uncontrollable numbers. In 1791, squirrels invaded the territory around the town of Belpre after that year's acorn crop failed to sustain their appetites. After eating the Belpre settlers' entire corn crop, the squirrels (which are not especially known for their aquatic prowess) swam across the Ohio River en masse and began devouring West Virginia!
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| Squirrels have been blamed for causing at least one confirmed stock market crash and a Miss America Pageant disaster in the United States, as well as precipitating countless fires and power outages which have left entire cities without electricity for days. For example, New York City officials claim that squirrels cause at least one power outage every day. |
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Posted by horatio on Thursday, January 29, 2009 (18:19:24) (115 reads) [ Administration ]
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