Thursday, December 25, 2008

Bird Brain

A female Downy Woodpecker...
Downy

doing what woodpeckers do.
Hunting Downy

Other birds seen in the yard:
American Goldfinch
American Crow
American Robin
Black Phoebe
Chestnut Backed Chickadee
Hermit Thrush
Scrub Jay
California Towhee

Some of these birds are incredibly small and incredibly skittish, like the Chestnut Backed Chickadee and Hermit Thrush. I'll post photos when I get some decent ones.

A Rainy Christmas

A squirrel shakes off the rain during a downpour.

Scamp (formerly "The Brave One") grabbing some nuts. A squirrel's still gotta eat!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Cast of Characters

We've been watching the squirrels in our backyard for a few months.  We have a lot of trees and thought they were just funny.  Then we started feeding them and naming them.  

It appears that there are several groups of squirrels that live in the trees in our yard.  Other squirrels come by now and again from neighboring yards, but these are the folks that seem to "own" our yard.

This is Preggers.
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Well, this was her about 6 months ago. She's since had her litter of 3, but she still comes around and she's one of our favorites.

This is Preggers today. Her tail fur grew back, her nipples receded underneath fur on her belly that eventually grew back after being chewed off, but now she's got a notch in her ear.
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Goliath just started coming around recently, and we think he has a litter mate that he still hangs out with that looks just like him in every way we've been able to tell.
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We call him Goliath for obvious reasons. :) Also, he's just huge compared to all the other squirrels.

These are the "Little Ones". We think they're maybe just a few months old.
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Yes, they're play humping eachother. We think that adult may be their mother, but we're not sure. She doesn't come around anymore.

This little one is "Spooky".
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This little one is "The Brave One" because he lets us touch him... sort of.
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Spooky's much more aggressive toward other squirrels though. He's always the one doing the humping and chasing.

Last but not least, Chucky, the scrub jay.
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That's the major group. We can hand feed every one in this group, including the bird.

Welcome to Tree Clowns!

Our inaugural post happens to be Election Day 2008.  Get out and vote if you haven't already.  All I have to say is, "Thank goodness for absentee ballots!"  :)

Anyway, this blog is all about goofy tree animals, like birds and squirrels... but especially squirrels.

Hope you like them as much as I do!  I'll be back in a bit.