Thursday, September 20, 2012

From Bumblebees to Flying Squirrels


After my bumblebee encounter a couple of months ago, I have not disturbed the occupants of the bluebird nest box. But when the support rotted and the box was hanging upside down, I was curious to see if the bees were still there. There was no sound, so I carefully opened the door; the fluffy nest material fell out and something darted around the tree. My cat Bigboy and I discovered three baby flying squirrels on the ground, which told me the mom was the darting figure I had seen leaving. The babies had soft, velvety fur and were about 3" long plus 3" tails, with loose folds of skin on their sides.
 The babies squirmed and crawled into the fluffy nest and Bigboy got bored and left. This makes me realize that the bees were not the nest builders, but squatters in the squirrel's home! I'm hopeful the mom carried the babies to a safe place, because they were gone the next morning. 


4 comments:

Norma Schlager said...

I'm surprised that your cat wasn't interested in them. I fear that my dearly departed cats would have had a meal out of them.

Martha Ginn said...

Bigboy carefully touched with a paw and the little fellows squirmed into the fluff, so he moved on.

Lisa Chin said...

Oh I'm so glad Bigboy did not think he had found a tasty morsel. Whew.

Beautiful article about you in Today in Mississippi! I wish they had included more photos but I suppose people can see more of your work if they follow the links at the bottom. Nice job!

Sandra Wyman said...

Have really enjoyed reading your blog, Martha - loved the chevrons and their gorgeous colours and loved meeting Bigboy!