Thursday, January 21, 2010

Squirrels, Squirrels, Squirrels....And The Hawk






This is time of year when the squirrels run around looking for a mate. I feel sorry for the females. There will be five or more males chasing her at one time and sometimes even fighting over her. As soon as she picks out which one she wants, they will mate and then start making a home somewhere for her to have her babies. The babies will stay with the mother for 3 months before she lets them come down out of the trees. She teaches them very well. Usually in April or May I will start seeing all the young ones.
Meanwhile it's a hectic running match out there. Up and down and all around the trees as the males continue to pursue those females. It's funny to watch them.
These are the photos from yesterday, the 20th of January.
I spotted the three-legged fox last night just for a brief moment. But at least I know he's alive and well! He will not let me get a photo of him. He runs real fast! It will be their mating season also. In February. The trappers and hunters can still hunt them till Feb. 15th. So it might be after that that they mate.

5 comments:

rainfield61 said...

They have the reason the run; I would like to check how do the monkeys behave.

Will they behave the same?

The Retired One said...

Wow..your squirrels really are busy, in more ways then one. :-}
So glad you got to see your little fox and that he is still doing well.

Connie said...

I'm always glad to hear the latest news on the three legged fox.

Beautiful deer photo.

You sure do make beautiful collages.

Martha Z said...

I'm amazed the fox has survived. It's one tough fox. It looks like the hawk is thinking of making a meal out of one of those squirls. It used to bother me when they caught something but if they didn't... That's natures way.

Rick (Ratty) said...

I guess I've been off the internet longer than I thought. I missed this one for a few days. I've noticed a few gray squirrels out with the black squirrels where I live too. I never see a normal gray any other time. This explains it. The fox squirrels seem almost non-existent though.