The squirrels are mating. Squirrels have a way of doing this that either is or isn't just like humans. You can be the judge.
When a female squirrel is in season, a whole bunch of males start chasing her. The problem is that none of them can mate with her because the other males will prevent them. So the female leads them on a merry chase until all the squirrels except one are too tired to do anything. And so he mates with her. And then she leads the remainder on a chase until the next one gets lucky. And she keeps doing this until she is out of heat, at which point she turns bare-fanged on any remaining males and chases them all away.
Anyway, it's happening all around the house right now. There were five red squirrels—four males, and one female—in our Butternut tree yesterday. The acrobatics were very impressive.
And then there was a harsh life lesson for a crow. Crows are big, tough birds with little reason to fear most other birds. It turns out, however, that it is a very bad idea for a crow to take on a blue jay. Since yesterday at 11:30 AM there is a crow over by the river who now has only one eye who'll tell you all about it. It was not a pretty thing to watch I'll tell you that.
When a female squirrel is in season, a whole bunch of males start chasing her. The problem is that none of them can mate with her because the other males will prevent them. So the female leads them on a merry chase until all the squirrels except one are too tired to do anything. And so he mates with her. And then she leads the remainder on a chase until the next one gets lucky. And she keeps doing this until she is out of heat, at which point she turns bare-fanged on any remaining males and chases them all away.
Anyway, it's happening all around the house right now. There were five red squirrels—four males, and one female—in our Butternut tree yesterday. The acrobatics were very impressive.
And then there was a harsh life lesson for a crow. Crows are big, tough birds with little reason to fear most other birds. It turns out, however, that it is a very bad idea for a crow to take on a blue jay. Since yesterday at 11:30 AM there is a crow over by the river who now has only one eye who'll tell you all about it. It was not a pretty thing to watch I'll tell you that.
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