While this Winter's first snow is still on the ground, a few days before Winter officially settled in, a new mammal appeared under the feeders. I've mixed feelings as usually they spell diaster around gardens, but we'll just see how things go through the Winter.

I guess I'll have to wait to see if the garden will be safe next Spring. I do have the fruiit trees inside wire fences, so they should be ok over Winter.

Pew and Phew!

This morning I looked out at the feeders and thought "Pew, there's a skunk in the yard!" But wait, something didn't look quite right. I've got a few "tree rodents" that come to the feeders on a regular schedule - chimpunk, 13 line ground squirrel, red squirrels and a few fox squirrels. An area south of me has a number of small "Black Squirrels" that are about the size of the Reds. (I'm not sure, but I think there is a red version of the Reds or Pine Squirrels, so maybe these are them?) This animal was much bigger.

Phew! It finally turned around to face me an lo and behold, it was a black Fox Squirrel. I knew it was a Foxy because of its size, and the bushy tail showed some deep brown edging like Fox Squirrels. Today was the first day I saw him (yes, definitely him), and hopefully, he'll hang around.

Unfortunbately, the Red (pine) Squirrels are very territorial and often run off the Foxes, but I shall see.