Yay! The Red Squirrel is Back!

Well, it is probably not the Red Squirrel, but it is a Red Squirrel and it is back in my yard, bouncing its way cartoon like across the deck, scolding me for not having the sunflower seeds out early enough. And I couldn’t be happier. It’s a long story. (Pat, what isn’t a long story with you?)

A few years ago, a couple of Red Squirrels found out what a great free lunch was being offered on my deck and took up permanent residence. And may I say up front that, in my opinion, the Red Squirrel is the closest thing to a cartoon character you are likely to find living in your nearby woods. And I say this as a child of the 50’s, raised on a steady diet of Disney’s Chip and Dale. Chipmunks are cute, no doubt about it. But, it is the Red Squirrel’s tendency to bounce, stiff-legged, on all fours, across the deck when it is tense or excited, and it’s 100% cartoon-like trick of keeping it’s front paws still while it’s back paws are whirling around, that give it that winning edge. They make me laugh out loud.

So, you can imagine my heartbreak when, suddenly, about a year ago, they disappeared. As a rule, this is actually a more reclusive squirrel, so for them not to be seen isn’t that odd, but I also stopped seeing their feeding signs. They strip the scales off a pinecone so neatly, leaving only a few at the top that, in the end, it looks like you have a little pineapple.

They are after the seed that is at the base of each scale. They often eat in the same place, so their pile of discarded scales and stripped cones gets pretty obvious. For that matter, when you find this pile, it is called a “midden”, the same term archeologists’ use for piles of Indian crockery, or shell piles. At any rate, the midden stopped growing.

Then the smoking gun was found. My husband had fixed a low-lying area of the roof where water pooled by putting down a sheet of soft lead. When he went to see how it was holding up, he found, all around the edge of the lead, the unmistakable chew marks of a squirrel. Oh dear, “This is your brain on lead” - no scholarships forthcoming for those squirrels. Unintentional, of course, but we felt absolutely awful about it. And so, a whole year has passed with no scolding, no hand rail antics, no whirling dervishes, as the Red squirrel would take on any Gray squirrel foolish enough to try to feed at the same time.

But then, just last week, I awoke to the unmistakable chatter of a ticked off Red squirrel! Yay! Yay! Of course, this is a different one, and so far there is only one. But that will change soon, for when SHE arrived, she had the shape of a little pear, not the usual shape of this hyper frenetic critter. Two days later, here she is, sleek as a weasel and obviously nursing some young kits, or pups, or kittens (the young go by all three names). More delight on my part. So scold away, steal seed with abandon, I missed your kind and I am glad your back! And next year, if I were the type to remember things, I could even send a birthday card, for they were born, most likely, on August 26th. But oops, I forgot my brother-in-laws birthday this year, also in August, so that might be a tad insulting if I remember these squirrels and forget his. Forget the card part. Either way, color me happy and entertained again as I do the morning dishes.