Bright eyed and bushy tailed

Eastern Gray squirrels often have two litters of young per year. The first litter is born around mid to late March after a 40-45 day gestation period. They will stay with their mother until they are weaned, which usually is about 3 months. The second litter is born around August or September and will usually stay with the mother until spring. Most litters range from 2-4 young, which are born blind, naked, toothless, and helpless. About 6-7 weeks after birth they are finally able to leave the nest for the first time, but they will stay with the mother for several more weeks.

Since it's March, somewhere in some tree there are baby squirrels being born. I would love to see them, but I know it will be a few more weeks before they show themselves to the outside world. However, the other day I noticed three squirrels playing in a tree. They would pop in and out of holes in the tree...scamper up and down from the very top of the tree to the base... nibble on nuts and even on the bark of the tree... push each other out of the way to peer at me through one of the holes... and perform various other acrobatic maneuvers. At one point, one of the squirrels seemed to be chasing its tail as it went round and round the branch. They appeared to be three siblings exploring their environment. One squirrel took a tentative, exploratory run to another tree, but quickly ran back to the "home" tree and raced to the top. Could it be that these squirrels are from a fall litter? If so, that would make them about 6-7 months old.

Here are a few snapshots of the three of them, though I have to admit I cannot distinguish between them.

Nibbling on a black walnut shell

On his way to the very top of the branch

Peering at me from the safety of his hole

Pausing after having raced up and down on the inside of the tree

Tasting the early spring buds

"Nature is a language and every new fact one learns is a new word; but it is not a language taken to pieces and dead in the dictionary, but the language put together into a most significant and universal sense. I wish to learn this language- not that I may know a new grammar, but that I may read the great book which is written in that tongue."

 ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson