Squirrels have taken over the tree cavity outside my window, which the European starlings had used last spring. I watched as one of the youngsters came out of the hole in the tree and began scampering around and up and down the tree. A second squirrel, hesitated, its tiny paws hanging over the edge of the hole while it looked out tentatively. It finally grew brave enough to venture out of its warm home and the two of them began to chase each other about.
I live next to a busy road. Though the speed limit is only 30 MPH, it becomes a highway a couple of miles to the east. It is also the route into town and to the RV park. Since it is in a rural area, there is no shortage of tractor trailers pulling everything imaginable, from trailers filled with cattle and horses, to heavy machinery. The squirrels often traverse the road, I suppose to greet their squirrel relatives and friends, or to find a wider array of food. The feral (and even the domestic) cats also cross the road frequently. Since I may well be the only bird feeder in town who also offers water, my yard is visited often by squirrels and stray cats, on a regular basis. In this arid climate, it is challenging for wild animals to find water and there are no ponds or natural streams that I know of.
Most of the squirrels and the cats have become savvy at crossing the road; however, last summer I saw a dead squirrel on the road just a few feet from the house. It’s body was still warm. I carried it to the field to be disposed of by the scavengers. I find it difficult to understand how this can happen on a 30MPH road, with two stop signs at the road crossing it, one stop sign a block to the west, and a huge dip in the road one block to the east. Drivers of huge semi’s may not be able to feel anything when they hit an animal, but presumably, at 30MPH, this would give an animal ample time to get out of the way. I can only conclude that whoever hit the squirrel was either speeding, or hit the squirrel purposely. This is red-neck country, after all. It is unfathomable to me how some humans actually enjoy killing – taking the life of another.
At the end of gardening season, I nailed a platform onto my porch railing in order to provide food for the squirrels. I already feed them around the base of the bird feeders, along with the ground feeding birds. Hopefully, I can provide enough snacking for them on my porch, to stop them from crossing the road and to keep them out of harm’s way.
