Well, everyone is well aware by now of our ongoing and never ending battle with the Hellsdale wildlife population.
Granted, this year is somewhat improved over last year.
So far we have relocated only eleven raccoons as compared to twenty three last year.
One squirrel has gone for a ride as compared to three of the red coated little heathens last year.
Chippie was in the porch for a visit only once so far this year, after thinking he had the run of the house last year.
All in all a vast improvement.
The once thing which continues to give me great pleasure is the sight of our livestock grazing out on the pasture.
Resembling nothing so much as a miniature herd of Black Angus, the black squirrels placidly work their way from one end of the property to the other, delicately picking up and discarding edibles.
Stately, never fighting..calmly going about the business of choosing both their food, and their store for winter.
I spend part of each day enjoying their progress across the lawn.
It also affords me amusement to find things growing where they shouldn't, and not growing where they were planted.
I don't have to do any transplanting..
It is all done with absolutely no strain or toil by my busy little workers.
They dig things up and plant them, and then lose them, and then rediscover them and plant them somewhere else.
This explains the large numbers of ash, oak and maple growing in my flower beds, and the large number of crocuses etcetera growing all over my lawn.
Since I can't garden anymore, I suppose I should appreciate all the unpaid labour.
It was with a good deal of amusement that I noticed a change in the squirrel behavior last week.
One of our century old Sugar Maples gave up the ghost last fall, and this year stands as a barren skeleton against the sky where formerly it stood robed in verdant green.
The only reason it is still standing is that the dibs are not exactly in tune at the moment, and it will require a professional to limb it down due to the proximity to the Hydro lines.
One day last week I observed what I could only describe as excitement in the behavior of the herd.
There they were madly running around the base of the old Maple, reaching down, holding something to their noses and then busily nibbling away.
I thought at first they were looking for maple seeds.
Silly squirrels, there are none! The tree is dead.
However, turns out this little herd is a bunch of seasoned gastronomes.
I don't know how many of you are fond of mushrooms, but there has been a great crop of them spreading along the extensive root system of the old, now dead Maple,
and it was mushrooms, not seeds the squirrels were gathering.
They would run to a mushroom, sniff it, pull off part of it, sniff it again and then stand there and nibble away in apparent ecstasy.
For all the years I have been picking wild produce, including mushrooms, I have never seen such a sight.
I was totally unaware that squirrels eat mushrooms, let alone that they gather them, dry them, and store them for winter.
As it turns out, now that I do know, it really isn't of much benefit to one who loves wild mushrooms.
Squirrels are able to pick, eat, and digest with no ill effects, mushrooms which would drop a human in his tracks.
They have a special adaptive lining in their stomach which neutralizes the toxins.
Ah well..
And here I was hoping I could just follow the squirrels to find my forest delicacies.
However, although they won't help me stock my winter larder, I can still enjoy watching them stock theirs.
Tags: Wildlife
