Something was going on outside my guest room window. Whatever it was, it was in the front yard and made a sound alternating between bangs and scratches. I peeked through the blinds and it was a squirrel spread-eagled on the window screen in a classic Looney-Tunes pose.
That isn't a photo -- when I turned to get my iPhone, he jumped away. He seemed like the nervous type anyway. He had the affect of a squirrel desperately trying to evade someone. "Let me in, they're after me."
I knew he wasn't starving, because there are literal piles of peanuts in the back yard. And I knew he wasn't cold: it was a freakish 58 degrees.
Five minutes later I heard the sound again. Peeked through the blinds, no squirrel. Checked the window in the next room over, no squirrel. Looked out the front door, no squirrel. Turned around and there he was on the opposite side of the house, plastered to a screen that looked out on the backyard.
I took a step across the great room to get a better look and he jumped away again, only to run to the peanut pile and start eating.
So I don't know. Was he saying thanks for the eternal supply of nuts? He looked too desperate. Did it occur to him that if we stopped with the nuts that he would starve because he never learned to scavenge and he was pleading for independence?
Maybe?
It haunts me.
Has Gary been lacing the peanuts with a hallucinogen?
(I have no idea. Squirrels are weird sometimes. But usually they are trying to get to either 1. somewhere to nest, 2. a food source, or more short-term, 3. somewhere to hide, possibly from a flying predator in this case?)
Posted by: KC | February 22, 2022 at 12:38 PM
KC - moms house has berries that ferment on the ground and the birds eat them and get drunk. I suppose it's possible he's high off something.
Posted by: TheQueen | February 23, 2022 at 12:43 PM
Oh, yeah, I forgot about them just being straight-up drunk/high from a natural item. Although usually that is more "sloppy" and less "jumpy" and yours sounds *very* jumpy? But who knows, and it is probably natural and almost certainly not a plea for you to stop with the peanuts.
Posted by: KC | February 23, 2022 at 05:03 PM
KC - maybe the nitrogen in peanuts is like an upper? Or, we do have hawks and owls
Posted by: TheQueen | February 24, 2022 at 11:29 AM
I mean, honestly, an air predator sounds the most promising to me, given the squirrel's freakout (and then having to choose between Place It Just Met A Human vs. Out Here There's Still A Hawk can't have been soothing). It would want to be out of sight while still able to scoot; high on a screen might do the trick?
Posted by: KC | February 24, 2022 at 12:03 PM
KC - maybe there are snakes.
Posted by: TheQueen | February 25, 2022 at 06:41 AM
Intriguing! I don't know what snakes might threaten squirrels, although maybe even a garter snake would spook a squirrel, because it is still a Snake...
Posted by: KC | February 27, 2022 at 09:38 PM
KC - Evidently squirrels hate snakes!
https://askinglot.com/do-fake-snakes-scare-squirrels
Posted by: TheQueen | February 28, 2022 at 05:34 PM