This isn't going to be much of a blather, but I couldn't resist posting this photo, as unedited as it is. I was taking photos for work and this one is unusable, but that doesn't mean I can't find it funny.
What you're seeing very unclearly here is the aftermath of a Red Squirrel fight. The victor's at the top right heading back to its territory, and the loser's hightailing it out of there at the bottom left.
I'm very fond of Red Squirrels. You've just got to like something that's so edible for so many things, and yet still so obnoxious.
Red Squirrels (as opposed to the larger Grey Squirrels you folks in the East are more familiar with) are notoriously territorial. One of my university profs, who'd spent his life studying Red Squirrels, once said to us -- only half-jokingly -- that he'd never been able to figure out how they ever got close enough to each other to procreate.
Um, for those of you completely out of the loop, the answer is the Power of Hormones.
Anyway.
Because the territorial Red Squirrels are so much smaller than their more gregarious Grey Squirrel cousins, when the Grey Squirrels show up in places that they don't belong the Red Squirrels are in danger of being outcompeted. And where do you find Grey Squirrels showing up where they don't belong? Along rail lines, mostly. Apparently they're latter-day hobos.
Calgary has a resident population of Grey Squirrels (which are, oddly enough, black. It's a mutation, I think) that probably travelled the main trans-Canada line. They've been slowly moving northward for years.
And what happens when they make it here? Squirrelmageddon? Oh, I doubt it. But if there ever comes a time when I see more Grey Squirrels on my walks than Red Squirrels (who invariably swear at you if you're where they don't want you to be), I admit that I'll be more than a little sad.
Geez. When did this become a work blog post? Guess I'll blame the time of day or something.
Later.
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