July 31, 2008

Squirrelly Miscreants…

A couple of squirrelly miscreants are on the loose.

The furry offenders were spotted shinning up our neighbour’s drainpipe, sidling along their window ledge, and gaining entry to their kitchen through the open window…only to emerge thirty seconds later, eating their spoils. We witnessed this, but were to far away from the house to do anything about it-except post this as a cautionary tale.

We’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again. It’s summer in the Northern hemisphere, where most squirrels live. Summer means open windows, and to a squirrel, even a partially open-window or entry point, means “please come in,” especially if there’s food about near that window. After all, summer is their leanest season, when the stores from last year are running low, but this year’s nuts and berries have not yet come to full fruition. What would you do, in their shoes (or, rather, paws)?

Remember, squirrels don’t understand the law of theft :-).

You can help the situation by distraction feeding them with nuts and seeds left safely outside, (whether in a squirrel feeder or otherwise) and/or, by making sure that any potential squirrel food is left well away from open windows.

Unless of course, you find witnessing squirrelly misdeameanours just too cute anyway ;-). Luckily, this is what our neighbour thought, so this particular tale (or should that be, “tail”) has a happy ending.

More soon.

Tags: squirrel, squirrel feeders, squirrel food, squirrels, summer

Filed under The Squirrel Feed, squirrel facts, squirrel feeders, squirrel food by JustSquirrels

Permalink Print Comment

July 25, 2008

Squirrel Solidarity

Apologies for not posting quite so much this week…we’ve been bounding around like squirrels in search of hazelnuts :-).

Couldn’t let the week finish though, without pointing out a great resource we stumbled upon this week: www.thesquirrelboard.com.

As the name suggests, this is a forum for squirrel lovers…full of interesting posts, squirrelly info, and really cute pictures.

Now we’ve found it, we’ll be posting there!

Tags: squirrel pictures, squirrels

Filed under The Squirrel Feed, squirrel facts, squirrel pictures by JustSquirrels

Permalink Print Comment

July 21, 2008

Squirrels in Malaysia

As we’ve said before on this blog, squirrels are found in many parts of the world other than Europe and North America (despite what some squirrel lovers there would have you believe!:-)

And as proof of this, a great video of squirrels in Malaysia has just been put onto YouTube. Watching it though, raised more questions for us than it solved.For we’d always thought that squirrels in Asia were likely to be relatives of the palm squirrel. These squirrels though (and yes, we know there aren’t that many close-ups in the video) look pretty grey, and similar to their American and European cousins, save perhaps that their ears look a little lower-set (which could be an optical illusion).

So this is another puzzle we need to throw open. If there’s anyone out there who lives in Malaysia/knows about squirrels in Malaysia, please get in touch.
In the meantime, enjoy YouTube user “Laskered”’s video of “Squirrels in Redang”.

Tags: greay squirrels, squirrels, squirrels in Malaysia

Filed under Squirrel Video, The Squirrel Feed, squirrel facts by JustSquirrels

Permalink Print Comment

July 14, 2008

Squirrel”Chilling Out”-Video

If you see a squirrel lying down and spread eagled, this isn’t necessarily a cause for concern. He or she may simply be cooling down, especially at this time of year.

After all, having fur is a warm business, and though squirrels do have summer and winter coats, on a boiling hot day, the fastest way for them to cool down is to “spread eagle themselves out, so that the greatest possible amount of their surface area is exposed and letting out heat.

Other people have also suggested that squirrels may also lie down in this way to signal submissiveness, as any other creatures do.

Of course, if the squirrel seems distressed, can’t open its eyes, is in poor condition, doesn’t move after some minutes, or has an injury, they probably are in need of attention from an animal sanctuary or rehabilitator.

An example of a squirrel who was in all likelihood just chilling out simply “chilling out” is shown in this YouTube video by “rockgirlsteffi” that we’ve just found. Enjoy!

Tags: , gray squirrel, grey squirrel, squirrel, squirrel lies flat, Squirrel Video, squirrels

Filed under Squirrel Video, The Squirrel Feed, squirrel facts by JustSquirrels

Permalink Print Comment

July 13, 2008

Video of “Cyril the Squirrel”

“Cyril the Squirrel, you may remember, is a grey squirrel we talked about a few posts back, made famous by a UK newspaper for his ability to grab crackers using hanging flower-baskets as a swing. Many do, we know. (And as for the crackers as squirrel food, it’s a new one on us, but this squirrel seems to like it).

Anyway, not contentent with just having his picture taken, the now-famous Cyril, from Darlington UK, now demonstrates his athletic prowess on video, here:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1562587976/bctid1631241554

Enjoy-though be warned, the video contains scenes of impending feeder destruction by this squirrel!

Tags: cute squirrel, grey squirrel, squirrel, Squirrel Video, squirrels, video

Filed under Squirrel Video, The Squirrel Feed, squirrel facts, squirrel feeders, squirrel food by JustSquirrels

Permalink Print Comment

July 9, 2008

Ground Squirrels or Chipmunks?

UK squirrel-lovers have lots to cheer about and observe, but wondering about the difference between ground squirrels and chipmunks isn’t one of them (as neither are found in this country).

That said, we know this is a question that many people ask, especially in the US. And so, at last, here’s a detailed answer:

http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2008/07/06/columnists/hawbaker/1033853.txt

Enjoy!

Tags: ground squirrel, ground squirrels, squirrels

Filed under The Squirrel Feed, squirrel facts by JustSquirrels

Permalink Print Comment

July 2, 2008

This feeder isn’t squirrel-proof…

Here’s a lovely story of squirrelly ingenuity, a cute squirrel photo, and a cautionary, “squirrel proof” birdfeeder tale, all rolled into one.

For the full story, and photo, visit:

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=193846&in_page_id=34

Note however that many of us could have told this lady (who, bless her, seems to love squirrels as well as birds) that her feeder was not animal proof. no “birdcage design”, tough wiring, whirling around, weight-respondent mechanism, or anything, so far as we can tell.

Still, her squirrel was still ingenious. Enjoy!

Tags: feeder, squirrel, squirrel proof bird feeder, squirrels

Filed under The Squirrel Feed, squirrel facts, squirrel feeders, squirrel pictures by JustSquirrels

Permalink Print Comment

June 25, 2008

Squirrel Bungee-Action Video

Squirrel Bungee feeders provide as much fun for humans as they do challenge for squirrels.

But it’s the kind of thing you sometimes have to see in action to get the point. Which is where this video from “capatootie” on YouTube comes in…

Enjoy, and if that’s got you keen to give your squirrels even more bounce, you can read more about squirrel bungees here.

Tags: , squirrel feeder, squirrel feeders, squirrels, squngee

Filed under Squirrel Video, The Squirrel Feed, squirrel feeders by JustSquirrels

Permalink Print Comment

June 20, 2008

Grey & Black Squirrels on Radio

Well, OK, the squirrels themselves weren’t doing the talking, despite the title of this post. However, just this afternoon, there was a fascinating feature on the radio about the diffeences between greay (gray) squirrels and their-genetically-mutated-but-otherwise-identical black squirrel counterparts.

It should be available for download for at least a week here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio4_aod.shtml?radio4/shared_earth

And just to be clear, the feature is the first item in the rogramme, not the whole programme itself.

Enjoy!

Tags: black squirrels, grey squirrels, squirrel, squirrel genetics, squirrels

Filed under The Squirrel Feed, squirrel facts by JustSquirrels

Permalink Print Comment

June 19, 2008

Squirrel of the Month

Someone has beaten us to it! There is indeed a “Squirrel of the Month” contest, but (sadly) it isn’t ours.

That honour goes to the local paper for Thousand Oaks (aptly called “The Acorn”.

But for a whole back catalogue of squirrelly antics, squirrels on feeders, etc, go here:

http://www.toacorn.com/news/2008/0619/pets/038.html

Tags: , cute squirrel pictures, squirrel feeders, squirrels

Filed under The Squirrel Feed, squirrel facts, squirrel pictures by JustSquirrels

Permalink Print Comment

Squirrel Feeders, Squirrel Food & Squirrel Facts

July 31, 2008

Squirrelly Miscreants…

July 25, 2008

Squirrel Solidarity

July 21, 2008

Squirrels in Malaysia

July 14, 2008

Squirrel”Chilling Out”-Video

July 13, 2008

Video of “Cyril the Squirrel”

July 9, 2008

Ground Squirrels or Chipmunks?

July 2, 2008

This feeder isn’t squirrel-proof…

June 25, 2008

Squirrel Bungee-Action Video

June 20, 2008

Grey & Black Squirrels on Radio

June 19, 2008

Squirrel of the Month

Squirrel Feeder Products

Archives

Categories