They’re baaaaack!

Six years ago, a new squirrel species (well, to us anyway) showed up in our landscape. A feisty little spitfire that turned out to be an American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). We dubbed him “Little Red” and, for years had thoroughly enjoyed watching the population grow and thrive.

Fast foward to 2007 where a boom of Red Tailed Hawks depleted the Red Squirrel numbers so much so that last year, there wasn’t a single squirrel to be found. 😦

Therefore, I was more than pleasantly surprised on Sunday night when I spied a Red Squirrel at one of the feeders! Hooray! They’re back! And I must say, feistier than ever!

It took two days to get the little guy, who was already causing a ruckus with the resident chipmunks, birds and much larger grey squirrels, to get used to me, the camera and the flash. He may be small in stature (something I can relate to) but that hasn’t stopped him from reclaiming his top spot in the feeding hierarchy.

No one messes with Little Red!

I took a ton of photos in an attempt to simply keep up with him (quick little sucker) and decided upon this particular shot because it perfectly illustrates his stubborn determination to be top dog (or rather, top squirrel 😉 ).

“Put ’em up!” (American Red Squirrel) Nikon D300, 400mm, F/4, 1/125s, ISO 800, SB800 TTL Flash w/Gary Fong Lightsphere Cloud, -1.0EV

 Welcome back, Little Red! We’ve missed you!