Thursday, June 18, 2009

Denali - Red Squirrels


This spruce dwelling Red Squirrel is quite common in Denali.
When hiking in the woods they are real chatter guys. When I was searching for the beavers in the previous post, in fact, located the above fellow by his sound. After watching him for awhile, he would go to the exact branch location to chew on a spruce cone. As you can see I was able to get quite close. If you look closely you can see pieces of the cone in the air flying as he devours the seeds.

During this time of year the Red Squirrels are cutting and storing green spruce cones. They also create "middens", which are basically the accumulation of the remains of the cone scales and storage area for caching cones. Some of the middens are right good size.

Blue Skies.

12 comments:

cassadanger said...

Las ardillas son mi pasion

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

These are just too cute Ken and you have captured them perfectly going about their daily routine. I love the white around their eyes, it makes them look as if they are nocturnal animals. That sure is a bushy tail they have. Do they put them over their headd and use it for shelter from the sun? Our ground squirrel does that but then he dwells in the desert where there is not much else for shelter.

Thanks for posting these, I find them fascinating critters to watch. :)

Juan C. Aguero said...

Very good photos Ken.
Greetings

Tim Rucci said...

I love the compositions of these, Ken. And I had to laugh at the second one as it looks like he is smoking a big fat Cuban cigar. You got really close and the detail and colors are really sweet. I'm sitting here wondering if you used a bit of flash in these images. Your patience in approaching the 'critter' paid off well for you here. Nice work.

Kelly said...

...beautiful photos....such a cute little guy. I enjoyed the narrative as well.

Twisted Fencepost said...

Love these pictures, Ken. I like to watch the squirrels around here, though they are usually gray squirrels.
We seem to be having a bumper crop of squirrels this year.

NatureStop said...

Great captures!!

harold davis said...

ken, these are awesome!! love the cigar image best. hope all is well. i hear you are having a visitor:)

take care.

Andor Marton said...

Great series! The second one makes me laugh, you've catched the moment very well.
I had some vacation, 2 full weeks without internet in Brazil and now I try to catch up on what I've missed.

The Birdlady said...

Such little survivors, they are!

Unknown said...

Stunning details and lighting on this fella Ken. Beautiful shot...Thomas

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Ken: Our Red Squirrels are so much redder in color. These are more the color of a Fox Squirrel.