Rising early is something I did for most of my life and it was seldom a problem.
It isn’t a problem now, but it takes more resolve.
Possibly because I often have trouble getting to sleep at a decent hour, or at least that’s my excuse.
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When our clocks went forward, I thought I’d have a small window of time when I would be up before the Sun but the window seems to be closing fast.
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Thursday morning I left Grant to feed cats as I watched the development of morning contrails.
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If I knew for sure the dawn would be worth getting up for I would make the effort, but there’s no guarantee and once I get up to check, the cats get excited about the likelihood of food…
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Overnight frost soon burned off.
There seemed to be a lot of people on the move, in all directions!
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Our pond now reduced to wet patch.
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On the patio three red-tailed squirrels were sharing the morning offering.
They seem more community-minded than the all-greys who chase each other off.
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The red-tails have an interesting colour scheme.
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We call them red-tails because they actually have red tails, but there is no such thing in North America and these are quite different to the Central and South American red-tailed squirrels.
How do our squirrels acquire a red tinge? The Adirondack squirrels (aka Little Red) are very much smaller and are aggressive to the bigger squirrels, so it’s hard to imagine them inter-breeding.
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Little Red
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Scrutinising the pictures, I realised that this poor creature appears to have had some sort of fairly awful injury.
Until I looked closely, I thought it was just part of the intriguing colour scheme.
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Sadly, it’s not unusual to see injured squirrels and sometimes their wounds get infected, yet they carry on as normal.
They certainly seem to be tough little creatures.
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At the moment we have had to cut back our offerings to wildlife, bringing in the feeders at night.
The trailcam confirmed that we were being visited by a bear during the night.
There is a farm just up the hill and a stable nearby and a bear would be most unwelcome.
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Knowing that this animal and so many like it are searching in vain for food as they lose more and more habitat is desperately sad.
We would happily help but in doing so we could get the animal killed. They are not endangered so their only protection is keeping out of sight.
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When I was done with contrails, strangely coloured squirrels and downloads from the trailcam, it was such a nice day, we went out for a brief spin and found some wildfowl.
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Common mergansers.
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Canada geese.
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Yesterday we were gifted with another very fine day which saw us traipsing off to Fort Edward, but you’ll have to wait a day or two for those images.
Tomorrow my knees have an appointment in Clifton Park and I think it would be best if I went with them.
I wish we had bears here, but I am aware that they can be both intrusive, and destructive. Not to mention dangerous. But I do feel sorry for them when they are so hungry. I am sure that the squirrels must be interbreeding, as I can see no other reason for the red tails and other markings. Is there such a thing as ‘squirrel rape’, I wonder?
Best wishes, Pete.
I think those lads would have a hard time getting the better of Little Red!
Thank you, Carolyn, for the update on the happenings in your world, and the wonderful photos!
Joanna
It’s impressive to know that a bear prowls around your house at night.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could send bits off for servicing and have them delivered, as new!
I easily get up for a lovely sunrise. But when I was working and had to get up at 4:30 in the morning (especially in winter), it wasn’t fun at all! It’s hard to imagine that a squirrel with such a cute little face could be so aggressive. I agree, it’s a shame that bears have to come all the way to a house to look for food. Oh, and good action photo of the Canada goose frolicking in the water upside down. Good luck with the knees – hope that doctor is as good as your foot doctor!
Thank you. The pain control doctor is lovely and a big help.
Sunrise is so beautiful and you have a lots of visitors. I also enjoy early mornings . Our first geese returned couple days ago and it’s mean that spring is on the way.
Carolyn, I sincerely appreciate your generosity and kindness. Thank you so much!💗