Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: squirrel

"The fox squirrel (Sciurus niger), also known as the eastern fox squirrel or Bryant's fox squirrel, is the largest species of tree squirrel native to North America. Despite the differences in size and coloration, they are sometimes mistaken for American red squirrels or eastern gray squirrels in areas where the species co-exist" From Wikipedia. Just added 7 more photos this morning, the last few odds and ends from Day 2 of our 13-day trip to South Texas. Tomorrow, I will be ready to start on Day 3, our second full day in South Texas. A day on a tiny boat, watching Whooping Cranes and other species. Having posted so many images from basically our first full day, I rather think I will have to be somewhat more 'disciplined" in my choices, or I will never finish : ) Mind you, I had a quick look through Day 3 photos last night, and discovered that a good many of them, especially of the Whooping Cranes, are very blurry - one disadvantage of taking photos from a little boat that is bobbing up and down. Thankfully, enough of them are sufficiently sharp. Later morning, on Day 2 of our holiday, 20 March 2019, after our drive to The Big Tree and then along the Lamar Beach Road area, we went to the Connie Hagar Cottage Sanctuary. This is a small, 6.25 acre nature sanctuary that exists in Rockport itself. Such a peaceful place to wander, watching for plants and butterflies as well as birds. There is a small pond, where we watched a young White Ibis, a Great Egret and a Snowy Egret all feeding together. Lovely to see their reflections in the water, too. A couple of nights ago, I was Googling and came across an article from 19 March 2019, telling about a group of students who chose to spend their Spring Break week helping to tidy the Sanctuary. Good for them! "The Connie Hagar Cottage Sanctuary is a mixture of oak motte and native grasses. This is the original location of the famed Rockport Cottages, operated by Connie and Jack Hagar. Mrs. Hagar moved to Rockport in 1935 and devoted her life to documenting birdlife in the Rockport area." From link below. aransaspathways.com/connie-hagar-cottage-sanctuary/ After spending some time at this Sanctuary, we went to the Aransas First Cove Harbor Wetlands Sanctuary, followed by eventually finding the Newbury Park Hummingbird Garden. This was definitely not what we were expecting - just a small area of grass and trees with picnic tables. However, we did see a beautiful Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly and a small, purple Winecup flower. Afterwards, a repeat drive along Cape Velero Drive and area turned up some nice birds, too.

There were two or three Eastern Grey Squirrels, one of them this black form, hanging around the same small area in Fish Creek Park (eastern end) on 23 November 2014. I had called in at the park to see if there was any sight of the Long-tailed Weasel. “The Eastern Grey Squirrels come in two main colour varieties or morphs, black and grey, and there are a few with shades of reds or even yellows in their pelage. A new-born litter may contain individuals of all colours. In the east, due to predatory pressure, grey individuals have a better chance of avoiding detection in grey-barked trees while black ones survive best when in stands of black-barked Black Oak or Black Walnut trees. In Calgary, litters seem to be evenly divided between grey and black. In winter, black individuals appear to be more numerous, particularly during cold days; perhaps their black fur absorbs more radiant heat, allowing them to be more active than their grey brothers or sisters.”From talkaboutwildlife.ca. “Like many members of the family Sciuridae, the eastern gray squirrel is a scatter-hoarder; it hoards food in numerous small caches for later recovery. Some caches are quite temporary, especially those made near the site of a sudden abundance of food which can be retrieved within hours or days for reburial in a more secure site. Others are more permanent and are not retrieved until months later. Each squirrel is estimated to make several thousand caches each season. The squirrels have very accurate spatial memory for the locations of these caches, and use distant and nearby landmarks to retrieve them. Smell is used once the squirrel is within a few inches of the cache.” From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_gray_squirrel

It felt a little strange to see this Eastern Grey Squirrel sitting on the log that I’ve photographed the Long-tailed Weasel standing in. Can’t remember if there were two or three Eastern Greys in the same area a few days ago, on 23 November 2014, one of them a black form. The Squirrel in this photo had such a beautiful, bushy tail. “The Eastern Grey Squirrels come in two main colour varieties or morphs, black and grey, and there are a few with shades of reds or even yellows in their pelage. A new-born litter may contain individuals of all colours. In the east, due to predatory pressure, grey individuals have a better chance of avoiding detection in grey-barked trees while black ones survive best when in stands of black-barked Black Oak or Black Walnut trees. In Calgary, litters seem to be evenly divided between grey and black. In winter, black individuals appear to be more numerous, particularly during cold days; perhaps their black fur absorbs more radiant heat, allowing them to be more active than their grey brothers or sisters.”From talkaboutwildlife.ca. “Like many members of the family Sciuridae, the eastern gray squirrel is a scatter-hoarder; it hoards food in numerous small caches for later recovery. Some caches are quite temporary, especially those made near the site of a sudden abundance of food which can be retrieved within hours or days for reburial in a more secure site. Others are more permanent and are not retrieved until months later. Each squirrel is estimated to make several thousand caches each season. The squirrels have very accurate spatial memory for the locations of these caches, and use distant and nearby landmarks to retrieve them. Smell is used once the squirrel is within a few inches of the cache.” From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_gray_squirrel

One of my curious, funny, cute little buddies, from down in Fish Creek Park! Always love to watch them when I go for a walk.

This little guy was hanging out in a tree near where I waited for three and a half hours on Tuesday morning in -22C windchill, hoping that the tiny Northern Pygmy-owl would move or do something, lol! Maybe the owl is telling its friend that it sat in the tree for three and a half hours waiting for that woman to move or do something, ha. Dealing with yet another Error in Outlook Express. I have 4,000+ e-mails, including Inbox, Sent and Deleted, that I really should deal with as soon as possible. Most of them are very important, including the last two years of e-mails from my brother - and I'd be really upset if I lost those due to some Error. I'd better check to see that I'm not starting to grow roots down into my computer room floor! Feeling as if this is where I am spending just about ALL my time, which is not good.

I don't usually get the chance to photograph a Black Squirrel, but this one was running wild near the Black-tailed Prairie Dogs at the Calgary Zoo. It appears to have some brownish patches, too. "The Eastern Grey Squirrels come in two main colour varieties or morphs, black and grey, and there are a few with shades of reds or even yellows in their pelage. A new-born litter may contain individuals of all colours. In the east, due to predatory pressure, grey individuals have a better chance of avoiding detection in grey-barked trees while black ones survive best when in stands of black-barked Black Oak or Black Walnut trees. In Calgary, litters seem to be evenly divided between grey and black. In winter, black individuals appear to be more numerous, particularly during cold days; perhaps their black fur absorbs more radiant heat, allowing them to be more active than their grey brothers or sisters." From talkaboutwildlife.ca.

I usually see or hear squirrels on my walks even if everything else seems to be in hiding! I liked his pose, though the photo itself is noisy and not sharp.

One of the little Red Squirrels down in the Weaselhead natural area. I liked the way the sun was shining through its tail fur.

This little Red Squirrel used the feeder each time as a seat. This is one of the "illegal" feeders in a park.

Such a pity that these Red Squirrels have been over-run by Grey Squirrels.

This little Red Squirrel was just one of the creatures that I stopped to watch on one of my walks. I got the feeling that he thought he was very brave coming up so close.

This little Red Squirrel is one of the familiar friends I see when I go for a walk in this beautiful area.

Came across this little guy/gal on one of my cold winter walks in a local park. The background at the top of the photo looks a little like clouds but is, in fact, snow.