This past Saturday morning as I looked out my window
I couldn't help but smile as one of our friendly squirrels
gorged itself on sunflower seeds at our bird feeders. After
eating its fill I guess it needed to rest abit and what better
place than the fence right near the feeders. After a brief
rest, it gorged a little more on sunflower seeds and rested
again in the same place. Life is good! Ha Ha!
Gray Squirrel - Sciurus carolinensis
Some time ago I found a cow skull on a walk in the
woods and brought it home. My daughter couldn't
believe it when I put it in the flower bed right next to
the bird feeders. Quite the tacky addition to the garden
she exclaimed with a bit of disgust in her voice, but
undaunted, I had other ideas in mind. She just happened
to be over when I caught ole lazy boy above rest abit from
sunflower seeds and then go to the skull and horns for a bit
of mineral in the form of calcium. Ahhh! The sweet taste
of educating the younguns about the ways of nature. She
didn't know that members of the rodent family which include
squirrels love to naw on skulls, horns and bones for the
calcium and other minerals that they lack in their diet.
After several more rounds of gnawing a bit of calcium,
rest awhile on the fence routine, ole bushy tail headed
for the trees and kicked back to watch the saturday
afternoon football games with his buddies. Ha Ha!
What a life! Plenty of food, free vitamens, nice safe
places to rest. Life is Good!
"You can't be friends with a squirrel! A squirrel is just a rat with a cuter outfit."
Sarah Jessica Parker(1965- ): An American film, television and theater actress and producer
10 comments:
I often find old skulls in my walks but they are usually opossums or something of similar size. Now your daughter will be clever like you. (at least as far as wild calcium gathering goes.)
nellie
I didn't know that about rodents gnawing on bones for calcium. You know you're a wildlife lover when you set out skulls for squirrels :)
I didn't know about this either. But I guess they need the same things we do. That squirrel sure looks like he's got it made in the shade in that pic.
I love the photo of the squirrel resting. They are really amusing creatures to observe! Great use of a skull. There is a purpose to everything in nature!
love squirrels and your beautiful shots ! is that true that they are like rats ??? I hope not !
wish you a wonderful weekend
Sorry to be this long responding to you all but between illness in my wifes family and a 3 day business trip I haven't been able to blog this past week. Hope to catch up today.
Nellie, I remember as a young boy finding an old shed deer horn that had been nawed on by something. Many years later I learned that mice, rats and squirrels all filled the need for certain minerals from the horns and bones. My daughter has been alot smarter than me for a long time! Ha Ha!(Just teasing Jess, Love you!)
Yea Sheila, you have found my passion! Have always loved the critters and the relationships they have with nature. Always something to learn.
Susie, his nest tree fell victim to the storms back in the spring and now he spends much time laying around our fence. Closest thing to a tree he can find I guess. Ha Ha! He does have it made!
Karin, you are so correct that there is a purpose for everything. Most of the time we just don't know or recognize it. Forest Gump said "You just never know what you'll get in a box of chocolate", well nature is the same way, you just never know what you may see or learn next.
Marty, they are a part of the order Rodentia which includes rats, mice, moles beavers, nutrias , gophers, porcupines, hamsters and many others.
Folks in the southern U.S. have nicknamed squirrels "tree-rats" because they do resemble a rat. However they are more closely related to beavers, chipmunks, marmots and prairie dogs than mice and rats. I don't like to refer to them as rats either, but they are kinda similar in appreance. I love the squirrels also. They are so fun to watch.
Thank you all for the comments and I appreciate you following along. Hope you all have a very wonderful and blessed week ahead. Fall is here and I look foward to what it will bring on each of your blogs.
Randy
Wiewiórki są takie zabawne i można na nie patrzeć i patrzeć. Pozdrawiam
Thank you Giga for stopping by and the comments. I agree, squirrels are a lot of fun. I can watch them for hours if they would let me. Have a great day!
Randy
Ha ha - nice shots Randy and a great story ! I've always seen squirrels as rats with bushy tails. Maybe he was also gnawing on the skull to keep those teeth honed.
Have a great weekend !
Thanks Rick and you are probably correct on the gnawing to keep their teeth sharp also. Thanks for taking a look.
Randy
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