Friday I happened to witness an amazing moment, as a squirrel gathered pinecones...he got the one below, scurried down the tree, across the fence and cattle guard, to the base of a tree at the other side of the road to Spring Creek picnic area...left it somewhere out of sight and then came scurrying back across the fence. I didn't see him once he went back up in the tree but I heard the methodic thumping of pinecones hitting the ground one after the other...if you look closely you can see that the squirrel has a dirty mouth, like a child caught eating chocolate cake!
A red-breasted nuthatch eyeballs a tasty pinecone...
...Oh no you don't birdie bandit, this is MY pinecone...
'Thith ith thowing thu thathe thee all thay thong...
...One down, eight hundred and fifty six to go...
You still here?! Alrighty then, I can't be held responsible if a wayward pinecone lands on your dense skull...you've been warned! Hey! Whaddya laughing at?!
A red-breasted nuthatch eyeballs a tasty pinecone...
...Oh no you don't birdie bandit, this is MY pinecone... 
'Thith ith thowing thu thathe thee all thay thong...
...One down, eight hundred and fifty six to go...
You still here?! Alrighty then, I can't be held responsible if a wayward pinecone lands on your dense skull...you've been warned! Hey! Whaddya laughing at?!
Jann,
ReplyDeleteExactly the same sequence I blogged about several weeks ago!
Our red squirrel packed off the cones, just like your photo, now she has taken up different harvest technique. Instead of packing off the cones from the top of the tree, she is nipping off the whole branch tip, dropping it on the ground and cutting of the cones. There are about a dozen branch tips on the ground under the tree at the moment, along with the empty cores of cones that she ate on the spot.
Must be frustrating to the blue jays who like to stash in the shell peanuts in those tip clusters for future snacks.
I love the rusty brown color of your squirrels. Ours tend to be a dreary brown gray color. While at Niagra Falls, their little four legged friends are black! Yes, I took pictures of them.
ReplyDeletevery funny Jann! Nice Nuthatch too.
ReplyDeleteI love it. I enjoy watching the birds battle the squirrels over the pine cones. Squirrels disappear once they start on my apples or bird seed. They have to find another home.
ReplyDeletePine pitch all over his face. He will have that fresh pine scent men pay to splash on;) Nobody works harder than squirrels to make sure they don't go hungry overwinter.
ReplyDeleteMarnie
Very nice. I love your blog.
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