Squirrels Survive and Thrive in Our Neighborhood

I am always amazed at how the wild animals that share our city living spaces survive - and thrive - in our climate.














Here is a squirrel running on the roof of our neighbor's house.

He (or she) probably lives in this nest - visible in the branches at this time of year. Their nests amaze me...














How can that conglomeration of leaves and who-knows-what keep its shape when the wind blows the branches of the tree? How can a family of squirrels keep warm in that rickety nest when temperatures are - 40 ? (Celsius or Fahrenheit - they are both the same!)



















Here is another squirrels' nest - in the hollow of this Manitoba maple at the corner of our yard. The squirrels run into this hole - and out through another on the other side of the tree, a little higher up...














The telephone and electric hydro lines that span the back yard are their walkway (and every once in a while, the wires have to be replaced after the squirrels chew into them...).

The downtown Toronto neighborhood where my daughter lives doesn't have enough trees for all the squirrels, so some try to "branch out" and move into attic spaces. Currently the pitter-patter of tiny feet - and scratching noises on the other side of her apartment's (outer) walls are waking her up in the night. At first she feared that mice had moved into the building! Then she concluded that squirrels had created nests somewhere in the walls. Hopefully her landlord will soon be able to track them down - and evict them!

I once lived in a building that had raccoons in the walls, her not-so-helpful super told her, when she complained... One tenant eventually spotted a hole in her wall - with a paw coming through - so look for falling dust!

My daughter was not amused!

Love it or hate it, constantly defining and re-defining the boundaries of what's mine and what's theirs is one of the challenges of living amid the beauty of nature and trees!