The squirrels are all molting and shaking off their winter clothes.
You can see the grey and brown colors on the squirrels.
Now let me also show you the other three squirrels, and they are all now becoming young adults. They have been eating peanuts and avocado here since their baby days, and soon all of them will depart to go and establish their own territories. The local mom regards our front garden as her own territory and by the looks of it she is feeding a new batch of babies.
So maybe soon we will have them all crawling around here again, as their mom leads them into our garden.
The eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), also known, outside of the United States, as the grey squirrel, is a species of tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus. It is native to eastern North America, where it is the most prodigious and ecologically essential natural forest regenerator. Widely introduced to certain places around the world, the eastern gray squirrel in Europe, in particular, is regarded as an invasive species.
Here was another one at the top of the trellis also watching my wife laying out the avocados for them.
Their distribution overseas, and you will note that South Africa is included.
Overseas, eastern gray squirrels in Europe are a concern because they have displaced some of the native squirrels there. They have been introduced into Ireland, Britain, Italy, South Africa, and Australia (where it was extirpated by 1973).
Moulting means that they lose their brown winter hairs and it will be replaced with grey summer hairs.
In this picture below you can get a good idea of the color changes.
Just look at those teats, and you can see that they are being suckled.
A big problem that we have here are the predators, as we have seen a Harrier Hawk grabbing and flying off with a pink baby squirrel. Not only that, as there are many other birds of prey, like owls, buzzards, hawks, and eagles that look for food to feed their young. Then of course, there are also wild cats and domestic cats that hunt the small babies. Thankfully the squirrels are quick growers, and our feeding of them certainly speeds their growth.
Such is life.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
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