Our neighborhood is carved out of the hills and marshes of northeastern VA. Although everyone seems to call it Northern VA. Giant, hulking apartment buildings and acres of concrete, glass and steel have risen out of rich fertile soil that could likely grow about anything planted. Just a couple blocks away are street inclines of well over 6-8% that go on sometimes for blocks. Just a few blocks away in the other direction are marshes, a marina and the Potomac. In fact after the first heavy rain I found myself in a marsh that had overtaken much of the park that is normally teeming with people capitalizing on its ball fields (includi
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| Black Squirrel – Typical in DC Area |
ng boce), picnic areas and incredible shade trees. It’s among these trees that an entire population of birds and squirrels make their homes. Sam was stunned with disbelief the first couple of times she spotted squirrels. The very first time she saw one was in brief moments throughout the midwest as we blew through rest stops and landed for a couple days in Des Moines. Standing at full attention she’ll spot one several meters away and begin the process of crouching down, tail at full attention with every hair seemingly paying attention, hindquarters at a near-steady quiver, her head locked and fully fixated on the little critters.
After a few scampered up trees, and Sam started to realize these trees aren’t full of thorns, she started learning how to tree them. Now we make a point to walk by several trees so she can scoot back on her haunches and make a leap a few vertical feet up in an attempt to catch the impossible.
Of particular note is the volume of black squirrels in the area, something that I noticed right away being used to browns and greys. According to at least a couple sources these are likely all ancestors of a couple batches introduced to the area in the early 1900’s. Moving around town/suburbs I’ve seen plenty of blacks and what look to be hybrid, which again makes sense given the introduction of the blacks to the native grey.
Any color Samantha has made it her mission to seek them out every chance possible—good for me as it means a lot less entertainment I need to find for her.