On a lighter note I'd like to share a video my wife took of our wild pet squirrel-Pocket. Suzy, my wife, has fed this squirrel since it was very young, and its mother Paws also. Suzy would fill her pocket with peanuts in which Pocket would gravitate towards when it was no bigger than my hand. He would poke his head into her pocket and or reach high with his paws eager for a nut. He keeps her company while I'm at work all day and so does his mother. The mother we named Paws even before Pocket was born because she'd do the same reaching motion as Pocket. No other squirrels we are familiar with do this. Paws was severally injured last winter during the snow storms, she broke her right leg. Every morning Suzy would feed her and she survived, walking with a slight limp. Here's a video of pocket, who thinks my toes are peanuts, perhaps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O-aCO37alM

That was cute.

Thanks for posting.

We had two very young red squirrels on vacation come out of the nest in late Aug. One was severely picked upon, and chased by the other squirrels in the back yard where we have some sunflower seeds in a feeder.

So he was on the front old dock (with me) and sitting on a post and longing to swim across the water to the other side of the bay.

He was so tiny. So I got some seeds just for him and it didn't take long for him to learn to beg from me. He gained his strength and whenever he saw me in my chair he'd come and beg. So I'd throw him some seeds twice a day. He was very polite.

Here are 2 photos from the first days... showing how small he was. The first is with an 8oz yogurt cup that I used for his seeds, showing the scale/size of him.
Red Squirrels are smaller anyway, but he was tiny IMO.
They are quite destructive and we don't like them much, but this little fellow, I named Perry. His paws and feet were quite large and out of proportion to his body. But 10 days later when we left he had grown quite a bit, and seemed more confident and less bullied.

Cute little squirrel. We live next to some old woods and have around 15 squirrels near us. I haven't seen them do anything annoying yet.

What I've learned about squirrels, having ignored them for 50 years is they are bright little critters, opportunistic and friendly. They observe humans much more than we observe them. They have different personalities, no two seem alike. They are very gentle animals. These squirrels will gently take hold of Suzy's fingers and take peanuts from her hand and you barely feel their long claws.

There is certainly a pecking order for sure and are territorial. If you are a young one or passive you better watch out because the older dominate ones will chase the younger squirrels off. They seem to eat mostly in the early morning and mid afternoon. Although some eat more than others, most seem content eating their natural food from nature, they seem to take peanuts as treats.

They do get injured frequently. I've seen 5 squirrels with injured limbs, I've seen two fall out of trees. And if you are familiar with Bott Flies, well that is a pretty disturbing site. Bott flies are parasitic flies that when they are maggots they burry just underneath the poor squirrels coat and grow and then bust out of the skin. Not a pleasant sight but not deadly either.

I've actually believe my wife and I saw a male squirrel dance and chirp nose to nose with a female squirrel while she was in heat. I never seen anything like it. At another time this particular squirrel who is close to my wife, her name is Time Piece because she does everything at a particular time during the day, was in heat and a male squirrel was following her everywhere. She led him to us, walked around our feet with him in pursuit, all very slowly a few times, jumped up on the chair next to us, out on the back deck, squeaked a bit then laid down completely flat on her stomach, all four legs sticking straight out, giving us the impression that she had had enough of this guy, "please get rid of him". Suzy wanted to change her name to the "Human Whisperer".

Oh my goodness that little squirrel is precious!!

This is not a squirrel link....but it is fun and cute and interesting
nonetheless.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread211581.html

mrsD, I watched the porcupine several times before it occurred to me who he sounded like. Do you remember the old TV series The Addams Family? He sounds like Cousin Itt! The character of Cousin Itt made squeaky sounds just like this porcupine. Here is a short 14 second youtube of Itt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2ajHEdsdU4

Oh, how funny!

Teddy Bear is a bit more shrill I think.

Maybe they call to each other while living in the trees? So the shrill whistle type call may be handy for that?

We don't have porkies, where we live. And upNorth, they don't get to the island. (we don't have skunks either).
So I have no experience with porkies except for seeing them in
roadkills while traveling.

There is a video there too, where the zoo shows the quills. They are hidden under the top fur, which I guess is safe to pet?