My brother who lives on a mountain in Québec kindly sent me this picture of these 5 baby squirrels eating under his bird feeder.
Oddly, in Toronto, we haven’t seen a baby squirrel yet this season.
We finally managed to get a picture of the hawk that lives in our area.
As usual while the hawk was circling, there wasn’t a single bird to be seen or heard anywhere. They literally weren’t making a peep.
I didn’t see a single squirrel anywhere either.
See also: Predators Stalking our Friends
When we get tired and feel like we are dragging our asses around here we say: “It’s a drag when your tail drags.”
This squirrel we call ‘Dragtail’ however doesn’t seem to be bothered by her dragging tail. Dragtail was injured somehow, leaving her with a broken leg and a tail that drags behind her. She is unable to raise it over her back in the way so characteristic of squirrels.
Here are some tracks Dragtail left in the snow. You can see a line where her tail dragged, similar to what you would see in mouse tracks.
You can also see how the back paw prints are out of alignment, probably the result of a earlier break that has healed.
Despite all this, Dragtail knows how to dominate the back porch, and few squirrels will dare to confront her directly.
She is also one of our most approachable squirrels, making her a great addition to the backyard menagerie.
It’s a bit of a late posting, but around Christmas we had an ice storm in Toronto that knocked down trees and power for up to twelve days.
Thankfully we were only without power for 3 days and even that wasn’t easy.
The squirrels seemed less affected by it than the people and went about their usual business.
Here is a picture of Piggy as he examines the changed landscape after the storm.
Recently we noticed that fewer squirrels are showing up in our backyard. None of the regulars except dragtail have been spotted in weeks, no Piggy, no Gracie. 
It’s still a harsh winter out there and we have free food. We couldn’t figure it out.
This morning I noticed what look like coyote tracks in the snow leading up to the back yard. I guess they could be dog tracks, but few dogs roam loose in our neighbourhood.
While I was following the tracks and noticing that they led all the way to the back of the house where the squirrels usually eat, I also noticed how quiet it was.
There was not a single bird singing, and only one squirrel in a tree in a neighbour’s yard, sitting perfectly still.
This usually means one thing: a hawk.
And just as I looked up a huge hawk flew by and disappeared behind a tree.
Far far away, I could hear a squirrel making an alarm call.
I hope they didn’t get any of our friends.
