Happy belated Friday from my Garden!

by incahootswithmuddyboots
April 21, 2018
23 comments
Happy Friday!, In my Garden, Musings, Nature, Photography

Squirrelly, that’s how Friday turned out to be in my garden. The sun was out and so were the squirrels. Even the tiny chipmunks have returned from their winter hibernation. These Townsend’s Chipmunks visit every spring. At first we only see the parents, and later in the season, they bring their offspring along.

These critters are tiny, and super speedy! The little guy sitting on the branch was keeping a close eye on me for quite a while!

The most common squirrels around here are the “regular” brown ones. Despite chasing them off the bird feeders, they aren’t afraid of me me at all. They are my least favorite! They have destroyed some of my bird feeders and chewed holes into our cedar deck. When the feeders are empty they’ve come right up to the patio door and stare inside, as if they’re saying “Hey. we need some seeds and nuts!”. They are definitely on the aggressive side!

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My favorite by far is the Western Grey Squirrel. For the first time this spring I spotted three of them from the upstairs office window. They were doing what squirrels seem to do best, chasing each other through the underbrush and scampering up and down the tall Douglas Firs behind us.

The Western Grey Squirrel is a threatened species. Human encroachment and environmental issues like wild fires and other habitat destruction are a big part of the problem. I sure hope they survive!

Do you have any squirrels or chipmunks where you are?
Have a fun rest of the weekend!
Sabine

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My passions in life are vegetarian cooking, gardening, photography, writing, good books, traveling and nature. Thanks for stopping by, Sabine

23 thoughts on “Happy belated Friday from my Garden!”

  1. Trudy says:

    We have so many rowdy aggressive squirrels in my neighborhood. They’re called furry rats because they raid garbage cans and many neighbors including me have had infestation in our attics. But I can’t deny that they are cute, evil, furry, rats.

    Liked by 1 person

    • incahootswithmuddyboots says:

      Yes, furry rats is a good name for them! They are rodents after all. Your description reminded me of the video clip you put on a while back with the subway rat carrying off a slice of pizza. But I also agree that they are kind of cute to watch doing their squirrelly antics! 😉

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  2. Ali says:

    For us it is the grey squirrel from North America which is the invasive species, which has out-competed our native red squirrel, because the grey can eat unripe nuts, and so there are none left for the red squirrels. Red squirrels do still exist, but in pockets. They are much cuter than the grey ones – smaller and with little pointy ears, like Beatrix Potter’s Squirrel Nutkin! Thankfully the grey squirrels leave our feeders alone, but they steal all our walnuts.

    Liked by 1 person

    • incahootswithmuddyboots says:

      Invasive species of all sorts are disrupting native species, both animals and plants, here too. I didn’t realize that the grey squirrels were introduced in England. We also have a much smaller brown and red one, the Douglas squirrel, but I seldom see it. Fortunately they leave my garden alone! 🐿

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  4. insearchofitall says:

    You are quite good at the capture of this quick little characters. At least on camera. 😉 I have not seen even one chipmunk in my area and I think it’s because there are owls in our trees and they can be a favorite treat along with the more common squirrel. They are cute, but destructive. Hope the rest of your weekend is wonderfilled. I’ve been bragging on your backyard. 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    • incahootswithmuddyboots says:

      Thanks Anne! We had an old neighbor lady years ago who always envied me with the squirrels in the yard. If only she had known how they really behave! 😉 But I won’t complain and take the good along with these rascals. Have a good week Anne!

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  6. Missy says:

    We have a lot of the gray squirrels here, and they have been crazy, insane little things. They are pretty bold, too, staring down my dog when we’re walking. Have a great week! It should be gorgeous!

    Liked by 1 person

  7. LuAnne Holder says:

    We have red squirrels and grey squirrels and black squirrels. I haven’t seen many chipmunks so far this year but last year they were everywhere. But today is the first really spring day we’ve seen.

    When I was in OR, driving from Bend to Portland, we stopped in a rest area around Ogden I think. It was a 300 ft gorge down to the Crooked River. Beautiful place. We saw these little animals that looked and acted like prairie dogs but were the size of a chipmunk. I think they are called bildings ground squirrels. They do not have the fluffy squirrel tail though. They were so cute. Do you have any of those around? They may only live in the high desert.

    Liked by 1 person

    • incahootswithmuddyboots says:

      You’re probably right with the ground squirrels living and digging in central Oregon. I’ve never seen one! The rest area sounds beautiful along the Crooked River. The Pacific Northwest is magical, and once one moves here it becomes difficult to imagine living anywhere else! I’m glad you enjoyed your visit!

      Liked by 1 person

  8. Trish says:

    Squirrels really look at you, don’t they! They shift their movement from supersede to stone still at the sound of human. You know how when you are startled your whole body floods with sensation? Imagine how a squirrel feels when s/he stops suddenly and looks squarely at you, and twitches its tail. Great Photos, my friend. – Trish

    Liked by 1 person

    • incahootswithmuddyboots says:

      Thanks Trish! I love my time outdoors watching my own personal nature channel! Squirrels are interesting critters. A grey one used to sit in my Buddha’s lap while I read the morning paper and drank my java! ☕️
      Thanks for visiting Trish!

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  9. lindasschaub says:

    I saw another squirrel post and just had to dive in. 🙂 I am upset by a turn of events with my two little “porch squirrels” … yesterday I took my car for a little run before driving to the Park. We had some snow and sleet coming in last night and this 4-8 inch snowfall starting very early tomorrow morning. I pulled the car out of the garage and was warming it up and out of the corner of my eye I saw two big hawks in a tall tree looking down – no doubt they have been tracking the whereabouts of Grady and his friend who come to my porch. I now wish I’d never started feeding them – I’ve set them up to be sitting ducks, so going forward I can only feed them when I’m out there, leaving peanuts on the porch for them is not a good idea. One of the hawks flew away while I was pulled out of the driveway, so I followed it until it alighted on a low branch. It was a Cooper’s Hawk like what was down in the Park … I told each of my neighbors as they have small dogs – one wrote back “yes, I saw hawks in your backyard and mine – one hawk got a squirrel” … I felt sick. Nature – pretty awesome sometimes, but sometimes not so much either.

    Liked by 1 person

    • incahootswithmuddyboots says:

      I am sorry about your sad outcome with your porch squirrels Linda! I’ve had cooper hawks come through for years and seen them grab a bird now and then, but never a squirrel. Those are sad moments for me too but in the end I figure the hawk needs to eat too. Nature has a way of balancing itself out and not always in the prettiest ways!

      Liked by 1 person

      • lindasschaub says:

        Yes, I understand that and am hopeful these two hawks do not get my porch squirrels Sabine. There are a lot of squirrels in the neighborhood so hopefully my two were not in the talons of this hawk. They were huge hawks – I got a good look at the one that alighted in the tree. I wish I had not started feeding them as they would not be “sitting ducks” … I’ll hope the hawks move to another neighborhood.

        Liked by 1 person

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