Squirrels...Dead AND Alive!

Observer: Eloise Bacher
Date: 5 September, 2008
Place: Japanese Garden
Time: 1345- 1400

Weather: Warm, sunny.

I wanted to check out the squirrel nest in the Big Leaf Maple west of the Japanese garden on campus, so I climbed the stairs up to the landing where we looked at the Star Trees the first day of class, but I saw nothing in the nest, so I headed back down. On the way I noticed a gray squirrel tail that appeared to be hanging from a branch, but as I walked farther down I could see that a whole squirrel was lying on the branch of one of the trees in the Japanese garden. It seemed really strange that if the squirrel was sleeping it would just let its tail drift around, so I started to think maybe it was dead. I went and looked more closely at it (as close as I could) and tried to climb the tree, but that did not work so well. As I was trying to climb it, another squirrel appeared and seemed to be trying to figure out what I was or what I was doing there. It got about ten feet away and did this head bobbing thing where it would stare very intently at me and weave it's head side to side and occasionally up and down, all while sniffing. Then it would leap to another location and repeat the process. It did this about five times, and during a couple of them s/he would suddenly vanish to the other side of a branch or farther up the tree. Eventually it ran off to the maple where the nest was located, and I couldn't see it anymore. The head bobbing behavior reminded me of two things: First, what I have heard that a cat does when it is curious and doesn't know what something is, and second, what Barn Owls do when they're upset, which is to sway their wings back and forth and weave their heads around while hissing.

*Photo courtesy of: http://f4bscale.worldonline.co.uk/Squirrel%20dead.gif