Eastern-Grays (Tale of a Squirrel and a Ratsnake)
At first, I thought this sciurid was coughing his insults towards us, but soon realized its attention was fixed elsewhere...
Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 25278067 - Eastern/Gray Ratsnake; Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. April 6, 2013. ©williamwisephoto.com
When my daughter was younger and her interest in the natural world was growing, I’d try to take her hiking every weekend. Even on days packed with the other duties in life, we’d take a 20 minute path through the small greenspace of our neighborhood.
One Saturday afternoon as she and I were exploring the green space, an annoyingly persistent Eastern Gray Squirrel was constantly barking out an alarm call. At first, I thought this sciurid was coughing his insults towards us, but soon realized its attention was fixed elsewhere. Not too far from the base of the barking squirrel’s tree was a long, dark snake. This Eastern Gray Squirrel was fixated on an Eastern/Gray Ratsnake!
After getting a few photographs, I wanted my daughter to see the great climbing ability of Ratsnakes so I placed it on the side of a Sweetgum. Up, up, up it went without any problems at all! The alarmed squirrel soon took off, perhaps feeling it lost its previous advantage of possessing the high ground.
Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 25278365 - Eastern Gray Squirrel; Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. April 6, 2013. ©williamwisephoto.com
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Cool! They are amazingly talented climbers.
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