Rocky!

The snakes were definitely cool. The umpteen types of multicolored mushrooms that sprang up overnight were very noteworthy. The salamanders, red efts, fence lizards - - all amazing. Even the copperhead and the black widow spiders were eye-opening from a "stand well away" perspective. But they all paled when compared with Rocky.

Rocky made his presence known one day when the bluebirds were trying to get into the bluebird houses in the side yard. As they flitted around the opening to one of the houses, something that was definitely not a bluebird stuck its head out the window. Trying to get a closer look, I went outside and (with the mechanical advantage of a hockey stick), opened the side flap on the bluebird house. All of a sudden, Rocky comes scurrying out of the front hole and climbs another 4 feet up the tree, out of my reach.

Now, having seen plenty of squirrels around here, this one looked pretty sorry and malnourished. It appeared to have immature/stunted growth, huge black eyes, and rather baggy/sagging skin. My mind landed on "undersized, underfed baby squirrel", and carefully closing the bluebird house door, I went back inside.

My Chief Everything Officer went out over the next few days and put grapes and cranberries out for our baby squirrel, all of which would habitually disappear. But for a few days, we didn't see our friend. So the CEO heads outside, determined to empty the nest and/or carcass of our underfed/malnourished baby squirrel and give it a proper burial.

Propping open the door, CEO gave a small shriek as - surprise! - Rocky made his appearance again, scrambling up the tree to safety. CEO then fished into the bluebird house and retrieved the nest material.

And then it got fun.

The nest - surprise! - was NOT empty; instead it housed a number of tiny furry gray squirrels with baggy skin and big eyes. Backing off immediately, CEO stepped back so Rocky...or rather, Rocqui, could tend to her babies.

Once we'd given her some space and quiet, Rocqui went straight to work, retrieving the first of her babies (1), putting it in her mouth, and scampering quickly some 40 feet up the tree.(2)

And then she jumped.

And then she soared.

And then she flew.



This was no ordinary grey squirrel, this was a flying squirrel, and she'd just jumped from a height of 40 feet, soaring for 30 feet of distance and then pulling up at the end to make a nice soft landing on the tree that held our other bluebird house (3). Scampering up the tree, she stashed the first of her children in the empty (safe) house, and then climbed up 40 feet on that tree(4), jumped, soared, and flew back to the original tree to retrieve another baby(1).

We watched, slack-jawed, as Rocqui repeated that process an additional four times. And while she did, we came to recognize that this was no 'dumb animal'. Rocqui immediately sprang into action, taking care to not waste a single trip, but grabbing her babies and heading for the nearest and safest house alternative. Also, the reason we hadn't seen much of Rocqui before was that she is, like most flying squirrels, a noctural creature, which explains the oversized bulging black eyes.

For a little bit of what we saw, check this out:


We're still on the lookout for Rocqui, but since we're on different shifts, we're not expecting that we'll see a lot of her. Still, it's definitely cool to think of swooping, flying squirrels, soaring through the darkness, just outside the window.