Fall is my favorite season here in Ohio. The leaves start to turn, but the weather is still nice. Well, unpredictable storms do roll in, but on the whole the temperatures are still moderate. And the season actually lasts as long as it should. As such, the fall quarter ends up being the quarter with the best weather, and the beauty of the campus in the fall rivals spring.
One of the signs that it is fall is the behavior of the squirrels. Campus here in Buckeye country has a lot of green spaces and a lot of old trees. Hence, the campus animal is the squirrel. I am still not quite used to walking around campus without noticing all these fuzzy creatures. I have found that mornings are especially active times for the campus squirrels during this season. Why? Apparently Fall is the foraging season for squirrels. They are busily running around gathering nuts. I think they are acorns, but they're bigger than any acorns I was acquainted with out west.
On Tuesday and Thursday mornings the last few weeks, I have been walking across campus from my car to the music/dance library rather than taking the campus bus. This has given me ample time for observing the squirrels, especially on our "oval." Last week I was walking under one of the big trees of the oval and watching the several squirrels that were running around me from one tree to another, rustling in the grass in between and underneath. I was just thinking to myself that all the squirrels seemed to be on the ground rather than in the trees when a large acorn catapulted out of the branches above me. At the sound of its launch through the leaves, I stopped in my tracks, startled. The nut landed right in front of my feet with a loud crack on the concrete path. Do squirrels purposely try to kill us when we walk under their trees or are they just being friendly? Had I taken one more step, he would have made his target right on the top of my head. Of course, this was not the first time a campus squirrel has attempted to bomb me.
Despite their warring nature, I enjoy the campus squirrels and their nutty ways. One of my favorite moments this week was when I walked out of the music/dance library and down the steps of the hall its located in. I startled a squirrel when I got to the bottom of the steps where there are some trees. The squirrel whirled around to face me and we stared at each other for a bit. He had one front paw off the ground, and his mouth was stretched open as wide as it seems possible for a squirrel's mouth to be. Hanging half-way out of his mouth was an acorn that looked almost the same size as his head. I kept walking, which gave him opportunity to break eye contact and scurry along.
Today on my way to my "office," I witnessed a squirrel leap from a marble balustrade to the branch of a small tree. It was an olympic jump for such a little guy, but he made it, waited for the branch to steady itself with his weight, and then jumped to a larger branch and was still sitting there when I walked by. He seemed to be in a perching position, with front paws up toward his face, and then I noticed him start to scratch his side with one of his back paws. I had never seen a squirrel do that before.
Later in the day, I was walking around the same building with one of my professors and noticed a grey, bushy tail disappearing into the shrubbery near the entrance. They're everywhere! But I suppose the most exciting squirrel on campus is the albino squirrel that lives near the linguistics department. My husband and I have both seen him on different occasions. Hopefully he can survive, considering how striking his furry white body is.
One of the signs that it is fall is the behavior of the squirrels. Campus here in Buckeye country has a lot of green spaces and a lot of old trees. Hence, the campus animal is the squirrel. I am still not quite used to walking around campus without noticing all these fuzzy creatures. I have found that mornings are especially active times for the campus squirrels during this season. Why? Apparently Fall is the foraging season for squirrels. They are busily running around gathering nuts. I think they are acorns, but they're bigger than any acorns I was acquainted with out west.
On Tuesday and Thursday mornings the last few weeks, I have been walking across campus from my car to the music/dance library rather than taking the campus bus. This has given me ample time for observing the squirrels, especially on our "oval." Last week I was walking under one of the big trees of the oval and watching the several squirrels that were running around me from one tree to another, rustling in the grass in between and underneath. I was just thinking to myself that all the squirrels seemed to be on the ground rather than in the trees when a large acorn catapulted out of the branches above me. At the sound of its launch through the leaves, I stopped in my tracks, startled. The nut landed right in front of my feet with a loud crack on the concrete path. Do squirrels purposely try to kill us when we walk under their trees or are they just being friendly? Had I taken one more step, he would have made his target right on the top of my head. Of course, this was not the first time a campus squirrel has attempted to bomb me.
Despite their warring nature, I enjoy the campus squirrels and their nutty ways. One of my favorite moments this week was when I walked out of the music/dance library and down the steps of the hall its located in. I startled a squirrel when I got to the bottom of the steps where there are some trees. The squirrel whirled around to face me and we stared at each other for a bit. He had one front paw off the ground, and his mouth was stretched open as wide as it seems possible for a squirrel's mouth to be. Hanging half-way out of his mouth was an acorn that looked almost the same size as his head. I kept walking, which gave him opportunity to break eye contact and scurry along.
Today on my way to my "office," I witnessed a squirrel leap from a marble balustrade to the branch of a small tree. It was an olympic jump for such a little guy, but he made it, waited for the branch to steady itself with his weight, and then jumped to a larger branch and was still sitting there when I walked by. He seemed to be in a perching position, with front paws up toward his face, and then I noticed him start to scratch his side with one of his back paws. I had never seen a squirrel do that before.
Later in the day, I was walking around the same building with one of my professors and noticed a grey, bushy tail disappearing into the shrubbery near the entrance. They're everywhere! But I suppose the most exciting squirrel on campus is the albino squirrel that lives near the linguistics department. My husband and I have both seen him on different occasions. Hopefully he can survive, considering how striking his furry white body is.
We also get squirrels at our complex because we actually have trees and grass in front and in back. The most exciting fuzzy creatures we get here, though, are the little bunny-rabbits that sometimes show themselves. They're very small and very shy, and as such, very cute.
And now that all the baby Canadian geese from the spring are grown-up, we've started to hear flocks fly over our complex on their way from one field or body of water to another. But birds are something completely different. And as the chirping crickets soothe me into a ready-for-sleep state, I am once again proven a naturalist and Romantic.
3 comments:
Dean and I saw several Aperts on our leaf expedition yesterday. They wee busy with pine cones. Papa
I love Aperts. I'd forgotten about pine cones. Have the leaves turned there already?
An albino squirrel will have an advantage in the winter so Darwinism is in control. Remember the squirrels who stole Amber's cache of horse chestnuts when they lived in the salt box house. They must have thought they had died and gone to heaven when they found them all together so conveniently accessible. Mutti
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