One squirrel lost its footing on a huge oak tree at the Indian Creek Nature Center when Rich was walking nearby. Rich has seen two squirrels fall from the top of large oak trees. Squirrels are amazingly agile, but they do slip and fall. We can do this with common yard wild animals. It’s a totally noninvasive way of distinguishing one from another. Scientists studying animals ranging from whales to snow leopards often learn to distinguish one from another by the pattern of barnacles on a whale’s body to the markings on a cat’s fur. At first glance, every one may look the same but with careful observation, it’s possible to spot differences in plumage, fur, size, shape, gait, and even personality that help identify it as an individual. It adds to the fun of wildlife observation. The piebald woodpecker still comes to our feeder, and we’re getting to know it as an individual rather than just a generic downy. Because we could tell him from other squirrels, we know he lived at least ten months. We actually never saw the animal again and assumed he or she met his end due to an accident, predator, car collision, or some other catastrophic incident. Then, one day we remarked, “We haven’t seen’ shorty tail’ for a while”. We never spotted it at a neighbor’s yard. For example, from the squirrel, we learned that he or she mostly just stayed in our yard and nearby woods. The Power of Observationīeing able to identify an individual animal adds to the fun of wildlife observation. We’ve also spotted other wild animals with distinctive markings unusual for their species, healed but visible wounds and other characteristics that help identify it as an individual. Last year we had a fox squirrel with an unusually short tail that hung around our yard for months. It was a downy but it’s head was almost completely white, unlike all others of the same species we’ve seen. Several months ago, we looked out our dining room window and saw an unusual woodpecker enjoying suet at a feeder only a few feet away. This Albino Woodpecker comes to the feeder regularly. Every few months a new guy shows up a determined daredevil squirrel who figures out how to slide 20 feet down the string holding a feeder to get to the mother lode. Through trial and error, I have found how to place all our feeders so that they are always out of the reach of squirrels. I love feeding and watching birds, but with a neighborhood full of acorn-bearing oak trees I feel no guilt at all at not wanting to pay for bird food and letting the squirrels eat it. Much of my time and energy has been spent battling a 1-pound enemy – the gray squirrel. How Do Squirrels Foil Hawks?īy Winding Pathways | | Birds, Mammals, Nature, Pests Often otherwise healthy squirrels recover from mange or dermatophytosis. We think that’s the case with our squirrels. A squirrel with this condition has short bristles. Often this causes hairs to break off, rather than shed from the skin. Loss of tail hair could be caused by a fungal disease called dermatophytosis. It could be mange, but this often leaves a bare patch of skin on the animal’s body. Four of our resident squirrels have a tail but each lacks hair. Neil Bernstein, a squirrel lacking a tail may have been in a mating fight with another male and came out the loser. So, their tail helped them parachute down. They descended with their body horizontal, hit the ground with a thump, and took off running, apparently unhurt. Both times they “spread eagle” in the air with their legs and tails outstretched. Twice we’ve seen squirrels fall from tall oaks. On cold and wet days, we see squirrels drape their tail over their back, perhaps like putting another blanket on the bed or a poncho. Notice this when you see squirrels cross wires or balance on tiny branches bouncing in the wind. Their bushy tail is more than an ornament.
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