February 17th, 2006
the psycho-squirrel
There are some who might debate that animals aren’t subject to such things as obsessions and psychoses. If that’s the case, then it’s difficult to come up with an explanation for the behaviour of a certain Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) that has been controlling the ground and air space around the Sugar Maple tree where most of our bird feeders are located.
We believe the squirrel has been in this location through two winters and has made its presence conspicuous through its obsessive activities. It spends many hours watching, stalking and chasing birds, and more recently, has begun to chase an Eastern Cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus) that occasionally visits the feeder area to clean up uneaten seed spilled by the birds. I caught one of the most violent squirrel attacks using the movie mode on my digital camera, and have uploaded it to my website. I have entitled the clip Psycho-Squirrel vs. Bronco Bunny. It is approximately 25 seconds long and about 1.8MB and requires a QuickTime player to view. The clip isn’t exactly terrific as the light was low and the speed of the squirrel so rapid that a digital camera wasn’t really the best rig for the job, but it happened to be within reaching distance when the event went down. Since then, I’ve shot a bit more footage of the squirrel vs. the rabbit using a DVcam, but nothing quite so bizarre as this brief clip. For those who don’t watch the clip, the above photo will give you some idea of what takes place during the sequence. The rabbit, which was minding its own business while eating seeds, is repeatedly charged and attacked by the squirrel. The rabbit, taking evasive action, jumps up and down like a bronco, but on a couple of passes, the squirrel does manage to connect and a chunk of its hair is even seen to float across the scene at one point during the attacks.
The rabbit now tends to try to avoid encounters with the squirrel by visiting the feeders before sunrise and in the evening, often as late as 11 p.m. Soon after this clip was shot, the rabbit appeared at the feeder with a squirrel-bite-sized chunk torn out of its ear. However, it is now less intimidated by the squirrel and sometimes stands up to it and won’t flee. This greatly frustrates the squirrel and, on some occasions, it will rush up to the rabbit and give it a hard shove with its front paws trying to get it to react. The rabbit’s strategy is to move under the low branches of one of the nearby cedar bushes where the squirrel can’t get a good run at him.
More photos of the squirrel and rabbit can be seen in one of my galleries on Pbase.
bev
Tags: Red Squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus, Eastern Cottontail rabbit, Sylvilagus floridanus