The town of Whistler was named after the Hoary Marmot, whose high whistling call can be heard in the surrounding mountains.
Here’s one surveying his domain as he warms himself on a rock.
(Oh, and marmots are a type of ground squirrel, in case you didn’t know.)
Gracie is a regular visitor to the houses on our block.
She often drops by and even peeks in the window hoping for handouts.
Here she is at the neighbours house lounging around till someone notices her and gives her a treat.
Piggy in his 3rd summer. He’s just finished eating some almonds and is hoping for more.
Planting a serviceberry tree is an easy way to attract wildlife to your yard.
We have a small one in our backyard and robins and squirrels visit daily to eat the berries.
This young squirrel seemed to find it a bit challenging to reach to berries on our spindly little tree. But it must be worth it since he kept at it for 15 minutes.
To a squirrel, walking along a high-wire comes naturally.
Squirrels are arboreal creatures—tree dwellers—and are perfectly adapted to walking along narrow branches.
In a mature forest, squirrels can travel for miles without ever touching the ground, by walking along branches and leaping between trees.
In the city tree cover is less dense, but sometimes the wires humans put up can be a good substitute.
Where we live we often see squirrels crossing busy streets along wires, which is much safer than dodging traffic on the road.
As you can see from this picture, squirrels walk on top of the wire, they don’t need to cling to it unless they lose their balance.
Their tails help them maintain their balance. If you watch a squirrel walking along a wire you will see them swish their tail back and forth to maintain their center of gravity.
As for electric shock, most wires in residential areas are low voltage and properly insulated for the safety of humans. In some cases squirrels can get zapped, but this is relatively rare.
