The antics of those tree acrobats
Squirrels can be fun to watch and interesting to interact with. For example, one of my regulars was given to vertical leaps at times. Jumping around, chattering. Very funny to watch, but I did wonder what provoked her.
Then there's the dark side of burying nuts. I've spent a lot of time chasing squirrels out of the garden and pulling up the seedlings they planted there anyway. I finally figured out how to make spikes in pots to keep one very determined squirrel from digging those plants up. That's pretty standard squirrel stuff.
[Picture: Backyard squirrel cooling on tree root]
On the other hand, the tree root cooling trick was very innovative. In the previous post, I described the male squirrel of a couple who survived his partner. All alone now, in a very hot summer drought, this guy took to stretching out on a large hackberry tree root to keep cool. Day after day.
His nemesis, the squirrel from the front yard, took note. He would scratch away the leaves from tree roots and try to do the same. Somehow it just didn't work very well for him. He wasn't very smart about it and targeted a small red oak seedling. Scratched it right out of the ground! I was disappointed, but there was another seedling close by, so I just started feeding that one instead. What an idiot!
One squirrel really helped me in an unusual way. In the backyard was a peach tree. Mostly ornamental—the fruits were smaller than apricots and usually rotten or full of bugs. The floral display was wonderful, but I dreaded having to pick up all that rotten fruit at the end of the cycle.
Along came a very helpful little squirrel. It was there a couple of years, taking a fruit here and there at first, then deciding that these were primo food. The squirrel started camping out in the tree as the fruit ripened. Every year, it got better at eating the fruit before it even fell. By the end, I didn't have to clean up after the tree at all. Unfortunately, the tree succumbed to peach tree borers. But that squirrel made the tree even more enjoyable while it was around.
Whether they are pushing my buttons or helping with the yardwork, squirrels do keep things interesting.
