Just a few days ago, while I was standing around in silent stillness mode, waiting for hummingbird opportunities, one of the little pine squirrel hybrids made an appearance.
He perched on a pine branch and—when I turned my attention in his direction—proceeded to let me know what he thought of my shameless intrusion by producing a top-volume scolding chatter, intended to scare me away, no doubt, but I found it totally enchanting. It’s probably a very good thing that we can’t understand their language.
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Looks like he’s singing opera to me! He has that overblown emotive thing going that seems typical in operatic productions.
He’s probably trying, in his own way–unfortunately, there are those who only hear–or think–“Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang.”
Noise to echo round the woods…nice shot. His body language says it all….’don’t mess with me’
They are wonderful sentinels, alerting all other wee folk of an intruder who is not put off by normal warnings.
I agree with Mike – it looks like he’s singing to you. What a cutie :).
It may well be a song, Cindy, and what a thought! I’ll try to record the scolding and include it in a future musical offering.
I look forward to it!! :)
I get this from squirrels and crows all the time.
They are just doing their jobs as watchfolk. And don’t forget the jays.
Awwwwww what a cutie! :D
Thanks, Frauke, they certainly are!
I love the picture, Gary…and I’m with Allen from New Hampshire Gardner above, I receive frequent scoldings out in my canyons and mountains…it’s like they can’t believe I would be there…and the further along I go on the trail, the scoldings often follow me…seems they’re passing the word. :)
It’s so true. You try to enter the ecosystem without upsetting anything, but the alert watchfolk notify all others in the neighborhood of your intruding presence. The main sentinels are the squirrels, the jays, and the crows, and they are very good at their job.
This past weekend I paused like you did, just stood there and took the scolding and then had the pleasure of watching the little guy calm down enough to go back to eating his pine-cone…very much like we go through corn on the cob….
Maybe we should carry corncobs with us as bribes to distract them from alerting the rest of the locals that we’re on the prowl. On the other hand, they are just doing what they’ve been programmed to do. And we should be able to admire how well they do it!
Yes, that has probably served them well for eons…and we do admire it. :)
Good capture!