A First! Red Squirrel in the yard. Happy Sunday!

Red Squirrel, the yard, Kennebunk ME

“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus

I don’t have a lot of patience with squirrels around my bird feeders. They can finish a block of peanut-butter suet in a morning, depriving the birds of the treat. I do what I can to discourage them. They have learned to keep away from the seed, but they simply can not resist peanut-butter suet blocks. 🙁 We have the common Grey Squirrels in our yard…cute when encountered in the forest…not so cute on our deck with the feeders.

There are Red Squirrels in our corner of southern Maine. I have seen them along the Kennebunk Bridle Path, and in a few spots on the grounds of the Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farms just south of us in Wells. This summer they were pretty regular…I saw them on at least three separate visits…along the boardwalk through the Maple Swamp there. Even so, compared to the abundant (especially so this year) Grey Squirrels, they are pretty rare. I have never seen one in your yard…until yesterday that is. I came back from a trip to the store to find one gathering left-over seeds from the deck and the rails under the feeders.

I can’t speak for other folks, but I find the Red Squirrel much more attractive than the Grey. They are a size smaller, with little round heads and perky ears, and delicate shock of tail when compared to the dense brush of the Grey. And they seem to have more personality…or squirrelality…or however it needs to be said. They are fearless, curious, and somehow engaging. The Red Squirrel on the deck, even when I got my Nikon P900 and went around outside for some pics, went boldly about his business…but he kept running out to the end of the deck rail nearest me to sit and watch me as he ate his latest seed find. Even when he went for the seed feeders, he did on glom on like a Grey, wrapping the feeder in a squirrel coat and stuffing as many seeds in his cheek as is squirrelly possible…no, he made a lighting, leaping, raid…only touching the feeder long enough to grab a single seed. Just like most birds. And then, again, he would run out to sit up above me on the rail and nibble it until it was gone. After, he would sit, Buddha like on his behind, back feet tucked under, upright, with his front paws just touching above his belly, and contemplate me for a few moments before scampering off in search of another seed.

When he left the deck he did the same thing in the branches of the young maples that edge our yard. Instead of running away, he worked his way out on the branches until he was practically right above me, and sat and enjoyed a few seeds from his cheek pouch…spitting each one out and maneuvering it with his clever paws, so like hands, as he again nibbled it away. We had a good time there, for 20 minutes or so, he posing, and me taking pics…until he scampered away into the neighbor’s yard. (He came back an hour later and repeated the performance for my wife, two daughters, and a partner who had joined us for a Saturday lunch…providing another fifteen minuets of entertainment after the meal.)

I have read that Red Squirrels are actually more of a problem for humans than Greys. Perhaps because of their boldness, they are more likely to damage buildings and ornamental plants than Greys. Some college campuses have imported the Black variant of the Grey Squirrel (a slightly more aggressive variety) specifically to cut down the number of Reds. On the other hand, in the UK, where the invasive Grey Squirrel has lead to a drastic decline in Red Squirrel numbers, there is an active “save the Red Squirrel” campaign pretty much nation wide. Here in Maine, at least for me, a Red Squirrel is still a special treat.

Or, since it is Sunday, a blessing. The Red Squirrel visit filled me with joy…and delighted the family at lunch. Delighted! Filled us with light…or at least topped up our light supply. It was an “all creatures great and small” moment, when we felt generous toward all that lives. And I am still feeling generous this morning. So generous I think I will put out another block of peanut-butter suet for the Grays! God’s creatures, after all. And for that they can thank the Red Squirrel.

Happy Sunday!

 

 

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