During the last week I photographed three mammals. One is very common, one not too common, and one is fairly rare — at least seeing one is a rare event. One lives in trees, one inhabits marshes, and one prowles forests and fields.
Many of the birds that come to my feeder toss 2 or 3 sunflower seeds on the ground for each one they take away. This is a great help to the juncos and gray squirrels.
Recently I noticed a trick a squirrel has apparently learned. I’m not sure if I’m giving this squirrel too much credit, but it seems this one figured out a way to get more sunflower seeds on the ground when the birds fail to keep him adequately supplied. If he can get the Yankee Flipper spinning, it will toss seeds onto the ground.
Here he (or she) is taking the spinner for a ride. This “series” was taken on two different days, but each time the squirrel made many revolutions. I’m only showing a few of the photos I got.
This is the first time I have seen a gray squirrel spin more that a partial revolution. Last year some red squirrels tried it and kept at it. You might enjoy the series of blogs of these events: Flying Red Squirrel, Red Squirrels Can Learn, and Red Squirrel Spinning Again.
I found my second mammal at the “West Lebanon Wetlands”. Six years ago I got some very nice photos of a Great Egret at this unlikely, but sometimes surprisingly productive, spot.
This time it was a muskrat up very close. The vertical dimension of the photo below was not cropped. I love the way his feet show and how he holds his food.
Here are a few more photos of this cooperative muskrat.
The surprising third mammal was a coyote that ambled through our back yard. This is the first time I have ever seen a coyote in our yard. Since the door to my ground floor studio has a large glass window, and since a camera is almost always on hand, I was able to get a number of shots during the less than a minute it was in view.
