Squirrel in Springer's Garden

Observer: Estella Yee
Date: 09 September 2008
Time: 1401-1417
Location: The Quad, Eaton Hall, and Martha Springer’s Garden, Willamette University
Weather: Overcast, 75°F

As I was walking around campus at 1412, I noticed a western grey squirrel dashing up a conifer, a fir tree most likely. Only earlier this morning, when I was walking to work, I saw two western gray squirrels at 745 near the SW corner of the quad. They hurried across the path, preoccupied in their own tasks. At 1600, another plump grey squirrel sat on its haunches perusing the ground at the east front of Eaton Hall, unaware of others passing by. All of the squirrels I encountered today must have been scurrying for food to store for the winter since most of them were unconcerned by the constant activities nearby. Either that, or they were all accustomed to humans. At around 1400, while wandering along the trails in the botanical garden, I discovered a 3-inch slug on its side with its mucus strewed behind. It was mainly brown with a few olive green vertical patterning running along the back, making it look somewhat like a Rufous garden slug, a diurnal one at least. It curled inward slightly on the damp bark as I turned it onto its foot. At 211, a swift bird of dark blue coloration flew from a broadleaf tree with trunks radiating from the base, which grew along the brick wall of the Sparks Center. It may have had the markings of a barn swallow, with an orange underbelly. I could find no nests, so most likely, it was merely resting at the tree. Placed near the center of the garden were tall magenta spikes of flowers, fully shrouding the spire of a 7-foot plant, which appeared similar to amaranths. Another intriguingly tall plant about 10 feet tall sported small wisps of a pale lavender flower. Shaped like dandelion bristles, the cluster could not have possibly weighed more than an ounce, yet the stalks were bending over across the path, forcing me to duck beneath them as I walked back toward the entrance. I noted that most of the honeybees and bumblebees were pollinating the 2-foot high oxeye daisies. Twenty to 30 were flying about the single square foot of daisies but strangely few of the other adjacent flowers were graced by any.