One of our local squirrels has maintained a nest in this big pine tree for a few seasons.

This morning we got to see the resident squirrel work on improving the nest.

Bear with us as the photos were shot over a long distance.

In this one you can see the squirrel as it comes out of its nest. The nest can just be seen: it is the ball of leaves just below the squirrel.

Squirrels build their nests out of leaves and twigs, and sometimes incorporate other materials like plastic bags.

This squirrel shuttled back and forth between the pine tree and a nearby oak tree. It gathered twigs with the leaves still attached, carefully folded them into a bundle and tucked them into its mouth.

Here you can see it arriving with a bundle of leaves and carrying it up to the nest.

This chipmunk here is collecting sunflower seeds from beneath my brother’s birdfeeder.

He was tentative at first:

But eventually he became accustomed, and you could right up to him and he would just go about his business.

This chickadee was helping loosen some sunflower seeds for our friend to pick up.

The neighbours have a new pair of orange tabbies, Dexter and Maggie.

This morning the squirrels were freaking out, flicking their tails and making alarm calls, scolding from their positions in the trees.

Sure enough it was because the cats were outdoors.

We’ve mentioned before how our neighbourhood squirrels can learn to tolerate familiar cats, but get freaked out by the arrival of unfamiliar ones.

Our only visitor this morning was this squirrel here, and she only approached after twenty minutes of barking at the cats from atop the garage.

Here’s a picture of maggie. She doesn’t seem so scary.