Natural History Wanderings

Not only are they incredibly athletic, they are also quite intelligent.  Ask anyone who has 

Gray Squirrel by Terry L Spivey Organization, Bugwood.org

a bird feeder in his or her backyard.  I have watched many ingenious maneuvers as squirrels have gone after feeders from tearing apart my first wooden feeder to many jump and amazing stretches as they have tried to defeat “Squirrel-proof” shields and feeders.  For more on squirrels intelligence and amazing physical feats read this NY times article: Nut? What Nut? The Squirrel Outwits to Survive

Identifying Squirrels can be very challenging unless you have detailed close-up pictures as illustrated in this post on the Nature ID blog: http://natureid.blogspot.com/2010/08/eastern-fox-squirrel-sciurus-niger-sigh.html

And in North Swindon, England  local cars have been the targets of squirrel vandals.  To read the details go to: Squirrels Blamed For a String of Car Vandalisms