Squirrel

I woke up the other morning, pulled up the blinds, and say this fox squirrel looking at me from the tree outside my window. the screen and bad lighting makes the pictures a little fuzzy, but they're ok.

followup

here's a tree the day after the snow/sleet, and a robinon thee day of the snow/sleet

tree

robin

Robins in Snow

The other night we got a snowstorm that bled into the next day, melting into a heavy sleet. As I was returning from class, I noticed a couple robins sitting in the trees, trying to keep warm. The robins hung around Richmond pretty much all winter, coming out from their little hidingplaces during the occasional warm spells, searching for illusionary worms in the recently frozen soil. The only place that would offer hope to the stubborn birds is the network of steam tunnels that runs all over campus, keeping the ground above them thawed year round as they try to heat the campus (buildings included). It was fun to look out my window and see the little brown and red shapes huddles on the green/brown swathes in the snow, hopping around, and flurrying away at the approach of students, who ignored them on their quest for a dry place inside. I took few pictures, which I will post later.

The next day, there was some drier snow, and I had a chance to see the effect of high winds on tracks in snow. I walked through a four inch deep drift on the way to class, and an hour later when I walked back, they had been completely filled in, and there was no trace.