Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day!

I'm not kidding. January 21st is Squirrel Appreciation Day. I love squirrels, in spite of the fact that they dug up most of the plants I tried growing last year. They are one of my favorite photography subjects and are quite entertaining. My dogs, especially Little Guy, do not think so highly of the critters. They have a pretty adversarial, and noisy, relationship.

I stumbled upon something pretty cool called Project Squirrel. Basically, you can observe squirrels in your neighborhood, at work, in the park, wherever and then fill out some simple data in an online survey. I figure that since I tend to watch the critters in my yard quite frequently, I might as well participate. Who's with me? You too can become a Citizen Scientist!

I Was Hit By A Squirrel

Yes, you read that correctly. I was on my way to work bright and early this morning, for a class. I was actually really close to Ren's place and having jealous pangs, knowing she was still sleeping at such an early hour. Anyway, I suddenly notice a squirrel sprinting into the street, right toward my car. I slowed a bit and swerved a little too, but still heard and felt a THUD! in the rear of my vehicle. I caught my breath as my eyes welled up. As sad as I was, knowing I must have killed the critter, the disturbed part of me immediately looked back to check out the carnage. Not only was there no body, but the rodent was bolting back toward the yard from where it had run out initially. It seemed fine. I think I was more shaken.

One of my yard squirrels who is getting quite used to being photographed.

I Will Collect You And Capture You

Anyone who knows me, at least a little bit, understands that I can obsess. Whether it's hamsters, Duran Duran, tote bags, Firefly, or the color orange. I could go on, but I won't. (Just don't even think about leaving anything in my new car! Yes, you know who you are).

One of my latest obsessions is photographing the squirrels who are frequenting my front yard and trees and fencing. We've always had a lot of squirrel activity in the back yard, which my dog Little Guy loves telling the entire neighborhood about. For the last few months, I've noticed not only more bushy-tailed critters out front, but also lots of peanut shells all over my driveway. Turns out that my neighbor installed a squirrel feeder that she keeps stocked with peanuts. Lots of yummy peanuts.

I've had a lot of misses in my attempts to capture these fast rodents. Luckily, I have a really good optical zoom on my camera and that comes in handy. We've had a few staredowns and I get ready to snap and they run. I think there are mainly two who are hanging out in the front, but I don't know for sure. And no, I haven't named them. Yet.