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White Paw

Posted by
MadScientist (Düsseldorf, Germany) on 18 March 2008 in Animal & Insect and Portfolio.

White Paw is our house squirrel: almost every day she's coming to us and munching some grains and nuts we've laid out ready. She's very young, extremely nervous and tries to bury all those nuts she doesn't want to eat immediately somewhere in our plant tubs. She's not the only one: we counted at least four squirrels who keep visitiing us from time to time.

Michael Skorulski from Cigel, Slovakia

She is beautiful and you've captured such nice detail in her fur and whiskers. How nice to have such visitors.

18 Mar 2008 6:07am

@Michael Skorulski: ...and they're very hungry!

Tracey from Baltimore, United States

Love the white paw! Great up-close capture of her personality. She seems to be trying to ignore the camera :0)

18 Mar 2008 5:10pm

@Tracey: This hazelnut in her paws is definitely more interesting than the photographer! :-)

Evelyne Dubos from Le Mans, France

Adorable squirrel ! You are lucky because generaly it's a timorous animal, and there, she is just near you !! I would like to have the same, but in my garden there are only birds... and neighbour 's cat.

18 Mar 2008 7:40pm

@Evelyne Dubos: I'm living on the second floor and there's a big ivy growing on the wall, so they have something to climb on. Unfortunately, our neighbours obtained a dog, so it got a bit risky for small furry animals to get to us, but till now their hunger has always been stronger than their aversion to that dog :)

Brites from Povoa de Santa Iria, Portugal

Great capture!

18 Mar 2008 8:44pm

@Brites: I followed Ina's recipe: bribing :-)

Eleftheria, 9 years old, from Athens, Greece

Cute!

18 Mar 2008 9:43pm

@Eleftheria, 9 years old,: She certainly is! But sometimes she's just awful! :-)

Steven from Chicagoland, United States

Beautiful capture of such a close-up. A beautiful color for such a young one.

18 Mar 2008 9:43pm

@Steven: It is said that the (american) black squirrels are displacing our native red squirrels. I can't attest that. Actually, I haven't seen the two black squirrels for weeks, while the other two red ones are regular guests. I'm curious if they will get more trusting during summer.

Witchpanther from Torino, Italy

fantastic

19 Mar 2008 12:17am

@Witchpanther: ...and hungry :-)

Ronnie 2¢ from London, United Kingdom

What a beautiful little squirrel . . she makes my local grey squirrels in the park look very ordinary although they are very tame and streetwise.

19 Mar 2008 12:25am

@Ronnie 2¢: Most squirrels here are red and quite nervous. The black ones are much more daring, so White Paw is quite exceptional :-)

MaryB from Staffordshire, United Kingdom

How lucky you are to have this little visitor, she is so beautiful. We have only grey Squirrels here in the UK, there are some Red Squirrels left but only in a few places and they are protected.
Beautifully captured MS.

19 Mar 2008 12:25am

@MaryB: Thanks, Mary! On some days there is a real race for hazelnuts between our squirrels and the jaybirds. If they don't eat them immediately, they're burying them into our plant tubs. There's always action on our balcony :-)

akarui from Kagoshima, Japan

A really cute picture. Great visit...

19 Mar 2008 4:01am

@akarui: This little rascal almost comes every day. She once tried to tear off stripes from our burlap winter protection - she didn't succeed, but kept trying! :-D

Michael from Wuppertal, Germany

Nee, jetzt werde ich aber sehr, sehr neidisch!
Habe bei uns im Garten noch nie eines zu gesicht bekommen. Nur immer diese Elstern... Klasse Schuss, btw!

19 Mar 2008 9:51pm

@Michael: Danke! Ich hätte auch nicht gedacht, daß wir hier in einer Art Oase leben und das nur zwei Kilometer Luftlinie von der Altstadt entfernt! Eichhörnchen und Eichelhäher sind unsere regelmäßigen Gäste, beobachtet haben wir aber auch öfters Kohl- und Blau(!)meisen, Rotkehlchen und einmal sogar einen sehr seltenen Grünfinken. 'Standards' wie Ringeltauben (fette Biester!), Amseln und Elstern kommen noch dazu. Auf der Wiese hinterm Haus hoppelt noch eine Kaninchenkolonie, die allerdings vorsichtiger geworden ist, seit unsere Nachbarn einen Hund angeschafft haben. Ich kann nicht klagen: vorher haben wir mitten in der Stadt gelebt (da gab es nur frustrierte Spatzen, die gegen den Verkehrslärm anschrien und kranke Tauben), jetzt sind wir in einer Art Kleintierparadies. Naja, dafür ist die Miete auch höher :-/
Zu den Hörnchen: leg mal im Garten ein paar Haselnüsse aus. Die finden schon ihre Abnehmer. :-)

Twelvebit from Victoria, United States

My wife is conflicted about squirrels. She loves them, but is also afraid that if she feeds them, it could be like luring them to a grim death in the mouth of our dog. He's extremely fast and agile for his large size --Great Dane-- but I don't think he can gain enough surprise to actually catch a squirrel.

20 Mar 2008 4:46am

@Twelvebit: That's simple: hang a bell round his neck ;-)

Japanalia from Yokohama, Japan

This one reminds me of the friendly tiny squirrels at Schoenbrun Palace gardens. It was enough to sit on a bench and they'd come. But if you were not offering anything, they'd not linger. They were very good at showing you're not an interesting person!
You captured it very nicely! Does it have a name?

20 Mar 2008 12:57pm

@Japanalia: Yes, they can be somewhat cold and calculating, nevertheless they're soooo cute :)
We call this one simply 'White Paw' ('Weißpfote' in German), but sometimes she's also called 'Destroyer'.

Porcsin from Debrecen, Hungary

Superb action shot!
Thanks!

20 Mar 2008 7:51pm

@Porcsin: It was indeed quite difficult to catch her without blur - this one is always on the move! :)