Bit and Boo have lots of friends in Nutland, with new ones arriving daily it seems. The news seems to be spreading fast this spring that my deck has all the good nuts!
Since I began writing this blog, I have identified and named a few of the regular visitors to the feeders. Sadly, most of the easily identifiable squirrels, like Bit and Boo, owe their IDs to an unfortunate injury. There are so many injured squirrels now that one of my friends affectionately refers to my deck as “Cripple Creek”.
Much to my dismay, I realize that some of the squirrel injuries appear to be human-inflicted. It breaks my heart to see the maimed and suffering little animals who appear from time to time at the feeders. I am pleased to offer these innocent creatures a small sanctuary from an often cruel world, a place where they can dine and rest for a while without fear of being harmed. I am working now to try to educate the less animal-friendly humans in my neighborhood about more humane ways to deal with squirrels than shooting them with a BB gun for example.
One regular visitor to the sanctuary appears to have been shot in the shoulder and now looks very much like a famous well-loved politician. And so he is appropriately named Bob Dole.
Bob Dole the Squirrel
Curly Boo
Another victim of a gunshot is CurlyBoo. He looks much like Boo with his chubby white tummy and he too has an interesting tail boo-boo. He has lost part of his tail but not quite as much as Boo. I think that his being shot in the hindquarters is the reason his truncated tail juts out in a curl sideways from his body.
Mick Jagger the Squirrel
Another frequent visitor to the feeders is Mick Jagger, so named because well, he is in tatters. He almost looks like he has seams running all over his body, as if he has been sewn together quite a few times. And like the human Mick, he is one cool dude. He likes to sprawl out like a cat along the railing. One time I caught him all stretched out munching on a grape. I wondered if he was fantasizing about having another squirrel fan his little body with a big palm frond! Something bad has happened to one side of Mick’s head and he appears to now be blind in one eye as a result of that injury. It doesn’t seem to slow him down one bit though!
Mr. Fantail has a most peculiar tail. He is a big worrier. Watch some hilarious video of him freaking out when I put some new things out on the deck one day, including a big stuffed squirrel.
Mr. Fantail
I will add more to the list as they come to the Nutland squirrel sanctuary.
Nuts for Squirrels 