Squirrels
It's all squirrels in Montreal. Squirrels appear everywhere. They climb the sides of my building and the tree outside my window. Go to the park and there are squirrels. I once found a squirrel curled up asleep on the mat inside my building's door, and, indeed, squirrels make their way onto my third-floor balcony and make a meal of my tiny garden....my parsley, geraniums and morning-glory sprouts are apparently particularly tasty. And, in the planter that holds my herb garden, I keep finding stashes of the peanuts that my downstairs neighbour (who doesn't do any balcony gardening) feeds them.
I know where the squirrels go, I know that they like to hide peanuts, and that plants grown by Gaelan are particularly delicious. What I can't figure out, however, is what kind of squirrels they actually are. According to the newspaper, they're fox squirrels Sciurus niger. According to my Field Guide, they can't be, and are in point of fact Eastern Grey Squirrels Sciurus carolinensis.
They bloody well LOOK like fox squirrels but so, unfortunately, do grey squirrels. Personally, I think it more likely that they're grey squirrels...the field guide is pretty accurate with it's range maps, the paper probably doesn't keep zoologists on staff for times like this. Unfortunately, I don't keep a zoologist on staff either, and I can't exactly ask the squirrels.
on consideration, though, wouldn't that be fun? I could approach them with peace offerings of my flowers and the herbs that I wouldn't have minded eating for myself, but first I would have to learn the language of the squirrels. I imagine there's alot of chittering. I'm good at chittering.
If that works out for me, I'll be sure to write about it.
It's all squirrels in Montreal. Squirrels appear everywhere. They climb the sides of my building and the tree outside my window. Go to the park and there are squirrels. I once found a squirrel curled up asleep on the mat inside my building's door, and, indeed, squirrels make their way onto my third-floor balcony and make a meal of my tiny garden....my parsley, geraniums and morning-glory sprouts are apparently particularly tasty. And, in the planter that holds my herb garden, I keep finding stashes of the peanuts that my downstairs neighbour (who doesn't do any balcony gardening) feeds them.
I know where the squirrels go, I know that they like to hide peanuts, and that plants grown by Gaelan are particularly delicious. What I can't figure out, however, is what kind of squirrels they actually are. According to the newspaper, they're fox squirrels Sciurus niger. According to my Field Guide, they can't be, and are in point of fact Eastern Grey Squirrels Sciurus carolinensis.
They bloody well LOOK like fox squirrels but so, unfortunately, do grey squirrels. Personally, I think it more likely that they're grey squirrels...the field guide is pretty accurate with it's range maps, the paper probably doesn't keep zoologists on staff for times like this. Unfortunately, I don't keep a zoologist on staff either, and I can't exactly ask the squirrels.
on consideration, though, wouldn't that be fun? I could approach them with peace offerings of my flowers and the herbs that I wouldn't have minded eating for myself, but first I would have to learn the language of the squirrels. I imagine there's alot of chittering. I'm good at chittering.
If that works out for me, I'll be sure to write about it.
posted by Gaelan | 8:18 PM
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