Subject: [Tweeters] Squirrels and a robin on Fathers day
Date: Jun 19 19:04:18 2006
From: Rob Sandelin - floriferous at msn.com


Went rafting on the Wenatchee over Fathers day and spent the night previous
at Tumwater Campground. Up early with the morning chorus on Fathers Day,
just me and a cup of coffee, all the usual eastside riparian suspects,
warblers, flycatchers, thrushes with splashes of oriole and woodpeckers.
There were 4 Douglas squirrel kids out playing variations of tag on the
cottonwood and pine across the camp road, lots of running and chatter and
arboreal acrobatics. At the edge of my camp site an adult sounded off and
all the squirrellets stopped in their tracks, hanging onto branch and limb
and looking about. I scanned the skies thinking there might be a hawk or
some other predator and when I did not see one I located the adult squirrel.
The adult was running down the trunk of a pine, then dashed over the road,
his target, a Robin which was foraging in a small triangle of grass. The
squirrel made a beeline for the robin who ran up to the edge of a parking
pad, looking as if to say...are you talking to me? as the squirrel kept
coming and yelling the robin flew off. The 4 kids erupted into squirrel
pandemonium, as if their team had just won the world cup. I took their
vocalizations to mean something like: Way to go dad! Chase off that icky
bird. You're the squirrel dad! Awesome! The dad (and since it was fathers
day I appointed this gender to the adult) then STRUTTED back across the
road, his macho squirrel tail in the air, his every manner indicating he was
some kind of hero.

A bit later the robin flew back and began to forage in the grass again. This
time all four squirrellets went off like alarms, yelling. One youngster was
apparently so offended by this trespass that it looked like a mechanical
toy, bouncing down the bark of the tree with each yell. Finally one of the
squirrellets ran out towards the Robin, who this time ran and hopped up on a
log. This stopped the squirrel in its tracks in the middle of the road, and
the robin stared down the squirrel then hopped down and began foraging
again, obviously not worried about the sermons of the squirrel sprite. The
squirrels siblings seemed to yell even louder now, perhaps hurling insults
to their brother.... Go on you big sissy, go get that bird! But the
youngster remained in the road, his tail twitching with uncertainly. Finally
dad came to the rescue, running across the road and this time the robin flew
up right away, to the cheers and jeers of the squirrels. The youngster in
the road ran back into the trees and all the squirrellets and the adult
began a new vocal chorus.

About this time, my oldest daughter came sleepily out of her tent, and
said,....What's up with the squirrels around here?

Happy fathers day.


Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
The Environmental Science School
HYPERLINK
"http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm"http://www.nonprofitpages.com/ni
ca/SVE.htm
><((((?>`?..?`?..?`?...><((((?>...?`?..?`?...><((((?>.?`?..?`?...><((((?>.?`
?..?`?...><((((?>?.. ><((((?>
?`?..?`?...?..?`><((((?>.?`?..?`?...><((((?>.?`?..?`?...><((((?>..?`?..?`?..
.><((((?>?.. ?`?..?`?....?`?..?`?...><((((?>





--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.9.1/369 - Release Date: 6/19/2006