Does your backyard have critters running around or just sitting there watching you? Here are a few I have seen recently. Some you will recognize. Some are less common.
I am sure you recognize this character by his long ears. Next smaller is the Squirrel. We have the black ones, the grey ones, and the red ones. The red ones are the smaller ones but the fastest and most aggressive.
Smaller than the squirrel is one of my favourites, the chipmunk. I like their racing stripes. Like the squirrel, they help clean up the seeds that the birds drop from the feeder.
One sunny afternoon this fall I was reading on the patio when I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. I assumed it was the chipmunk because it was near the step where they have a nest. On the third time the motion attracted my attention, I turned to look to see what the chipmunk was up to. Somehow the head that I could see was a darker brown than the usual chipmunk colour. Then the head came out farther and the body kept coming out, longer than usual. when I could see all of this critter I could see that it was not a chipmunk or a squirrel.
I used my cell phone to make a video of my visitor. He moves fast, seldom stopping and with my moving the camera to try to follow, the picture is a little blurry and most of the time he was not in the frame. He was curious and came up to my foot. He did not touch it. I would have felt it because I was not wearing socks or shoes. I was getting nervous because I did not want a bite or a scratch. You can see in the video where my leg, in blue jeans, comes into the corner of the video.
The video is a selection of a few clips I made and the parts where he was out of the frame for a while have been cut out. The two pictures above were chosen from two of the clearer frames of the video.
I also created a video and slowed it down to half speed. It is on Youtube. Here is the link.
What unusual critters have you found in your neighbourhood?
How fun! Thank you so much for taking the time to edit and upload your video! We don’t have much wild-life near our apartment complex other than birds – but for years we lived on four acres near a swamp and a river, so you can imagine how very busy and noisy it was – just from the wild-life!
Haven’t seen any lately! Squirrels are a reminder to prepare for winter. In business that might mean making this time your busiest or most productive.
How fun to watch the critters run and play,they are just like little kids!
We have a California oak in our neighbor’s backyard but we enjoy the shade (and the acorns that are falling like crazy now!) which means we also see a lot of squirrels now (and it always is a lot, so a lot more)
Glad to see you back in the UBC Doug…