Squirrel Tunnels
So back in December I talked about Rusty, the red squirrel who has pretty much adopted our backyard and likes the sweet deal he has of the peanuts John sets out on the windowsill every second day. He's very cute to watch and the backyard is a place of drama when other squirrels try to invade Rusty's turf and take nuts from the window ledge or the birdhouse he's claimed. In fact I was pretty annoyed at a determined black squirrel a week or two back who discovered Rusty's stash in our birdhouse. He was easily twice Rusty's size and couldn't fit more than his head into the hole cut in the small wooden house to steal the peanuts, though he surely tried hard. A few days later I looked out at the birdhouse again and found that the black squirrel had chewed and frayed the whole entrance to the house in his determination to get at the saved-up peanuts. Evil squirrel! Go back to Debbie's yard in Toronto! Rusty was most put out. Seems, though, he simply started looking for other hide-ways for his stash.
It's, of course, mega-snowy around here these days and with our small closed-in backyard fenced off, for the first winter since we moved here, the snow has piled up quite quickly. The snow is likely two or three feet deep in the backyard right now. So we were amazed to watch Rusty outside one morning pop down into a hole in the snow and then a few seconds later pop back up again through another hole on the opposite side of the yard. Then he would pop down through the hole in the snow again and pop up in a totally different part of the yard yet again. It was clear that he had managed to burrow an entire series of tunnels criss-crossing under the snow all across our backyard. It was hilarious to watch. Pop! Down through one hole... We'd watch and scan the yard and wait and then, Pop! His head would stick up through another hole. We had no idea red squirrels had burrowing instincts like that. He has an entire subway system going under the snow here and probably stashes of peanuts safe from the black squirrels and burrows to hide in.
I was intrigued enough to do some research on-line and discovered it's pretty common behavior for red squirrels to do that even though we'd never seen it before. Seems that when the temperature dips really low red squirrels abandon the trees for life under drifts of snow because they're insulated and much warmer. And I initially felt badly that Rusty's underground development will eventually melt away (sorry, Rusty, but it can't happen soon enough- it's way too cold these days), but I guess then it will be warm enough that he'll just take to the trees again.
Still, the tunnels quite amaze us. I'd love to have a map of our backyard to see just how extensive his underground living has become!
Squirrels are just endlessly entertaining.
It's, of course, mega-snowy around here these days and with our small closed-in backyard fenced off, for the first winter since we moved here, the snow has piled up quite quickly. The snow is likely two or three feet deep in the backyard right now. So we were amazed to watch Rusty outside one morning pop down into a hole in the snow and then a few seconds later pop back up again through another hole on the opposite side of the yard. Then he would pop down through the hole in the snow again and pop up in a totally different part of the yard yet again. It was clear that he had managed to burrow an entire series of tunnels criss-crossing under the snow all across our backyard. It was hilarious to watch. Pop! Down through one hole... We'd watch and scan the yard and wait and then, Pop! His head would stick up through another hole. We had no idea red squirrels had burrowing instincts like that. He has an entire subway system going under the snow here and probably stashes of peanuts safe from the black squirrels and burrows to hide in.
I was intrigued enough to do some research on-line and discovered it's pretty common behavior for red squirrels to do that even though we'd never seen it before. Seems that when the temperature dips really low red squirrels abandon the trees for life under drifts of snow because they're insulated and much warmer. And I initially felt badly that Rusty's underground development will eventually melt away (sorry, Rusty, but it can't happen soon enough- it's way too cold these days), but I guess then it will be warm enough that he'll just take to the trees again.
Still, the tunnels quite amaze us. I'd love to have a map of our backyard to see just how extensive his underground living has become!
Squirrels are just endlessly entertaining.