We have a fox squirrel coming to our stump feeder that seems to be sporting a rather large, and I mean LARGE fur coat. Or it has been eating way to many sunflower seeds. Overly dressed Fox squirrel. ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden ) Fox squirrel. 2014 ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden ) Ok, just for a comparison here is a picture of the little Red squirrel that is sitting on the same stump. We call him or her stubby. It is missing half of it's tail. Probably from a fight it was in with another squirrel. They are so cute, but feisty. Stubby the Red squirrel. 2014 ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )
Haha that's cute! On Christmas Eve we drove to my parents house and the neighbor had a feeder with the chubbiest squirrel I have ever seen!
Since a cup of sunflower seeds is 818 calories it would seem that foxy is getting more than his share of the goodies. Perhaps his nest isn't well insulated and the extra fur is compensates during cold the cold Wisconsin nights. Anything in Wisconsin needs a fur coat. O.K. for example: Tomorrow's high in Denmark, WI will be 12°F, for those north of the border that is -11.1°C . My keys are starting to freeze just typing those ccccold temperatures. And it's going to get colder . Jerry
That much padding should keep him nice and warm through the winter. Stratsmom, I agree with you, fluffy is a much better word.
Well, yes Good grief! He (she?) is a very fat one. Squirrel babies pending in there maybe? We sure have some fat ones here too. I think they need an extra layer to stay warm here!
We have a couple of big oak trees in the front yard. I saw a squirrel picking up acorns and burying them in various places around the yard. I hope he remembers where he put them. I don't know for sure why he thinks he has to bury them when there are so many out there. We don't have snow to bury them either. dooley
Toots, we once had a pooch who would go on escapades. We lived close to a military base & on the base was a pound for escapading dogs. Unfortunately, at feeding time, they put the food for all the wayward dogs in one long trough. Our pooch was a chow hound. The first time she got picked up, she came home looking like a boa constrictor that swallowed a cow. The second time she got out, she made beeline for the pound! And came home looking like a boa...(etc). That was the end of her escapades. So, Toots,....the connection is that I think you have an escapading squirrel there who knows where the food trough is!
Eileen I think so. But with our temps in the single digits and next week below 0 all that extra fluff will keep that squirrel warm. Jerry you are so right. It wouldn't be so bad but then we have 20 mile an hour winds on top of the cold temps. It 's enough for one to freeze their you know whats off. Stats and 2ofus---you are so right. That is one of the fluffiest squirrels I have ever seen. I think it had some inside info on the cold temps we are now having. Frank----your question made me chuckle. The other day when I took those photos of fluffy squirrel. It tried to climb up the post of our platform feeder. It could not get it's fluffy body over the lip of the metal flashing I put on the feeder this summer to keep the chipmunks out. All the other squirrels have no problem getting around the chipmunk barrier. NOT fluffy. Kay not sure if squirrels would be carrying young at this time. But it is a very fluffy squirrel. Dooley--I think it is just a squirrel fetish when it comes to burying nuts and such. They do remember the places they bury their stash. We saw a PBS program that was on just that topic. From the show we learned that squirrels have an amazing memory. They also remember places that they can find a good source of food. Cayuga--That pooch was quite the chow hound. So animals seem to have hollow legs they are trying to fill up. You are right about the squirrel not having to climb for his hand out buffet. But if he had to climb over our chipmunk barrier he would starve. He just can't get that fluffy body up over the edge. It was pretty funny to watch.
Hi. In our neck of the woods we only ever see the common Grey Squirrels - the lovely Reds having mostly apart from in certain areas been pushed out. However the Greys do have their own charm. Syd.
