Squirrel lives in holes in sycamore trees, which are so leafy that no one can discover the holes under the branches, except, next door, the chipmunk.
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Squirrel and Woodpecker’s Tree Hole Scramble
Last year, the woodpecker brooded in the hole, and the squirrel lived in a rock crevice in the dirt can on the opposite side of the tree.
Not only was the crack leaking on all sides, but it was also frequented by snakes and bugs, so the squirrel lived in fear and trembling. Waiting for the woodpecker brood finished, the spring of this year, the squirrel moved in. Grubbing a lot of artemisia, only to set up a warm home.
So far, the squirrel has chased away several waves of intruders, and it seems that last year’s woodpecker brood. The squirrel met the woodpecker with some trepidation, hiding in a tree hole and refusing to show his head, waiting for the woodpecker to come and explore, then rushed up and clawed hard. The woodpecker left the hole several times after being hit by the black fist of the tree, and the woodpecker left unhappily.
Chipmunk and squirrel fight over tree holes
Chipmunk has also been among those who coveted tree holes, but squirrel are not afraid of them. When the chipmunk wanders into the hole, the squirrel rushes out to chase the intruder, brave as a hero defending his home.
Chipmunk is about the same size as squirrel, except they don’t have the big tails of squirrel, and have a shorter fluffy tail, but they are just as agile as squirrel. Waiting for the squirrel to rush out, the chipmunk has long run to the other side of the tree, the whole body stuck to the trunk, like a dried bark, if not for the three black lines on the back, it would be difficult to distinguish. The other end of the tree, chipmunk and squirrel as the body close to the trunk, squirrel darker color, no pattern on the body, camouflage effect is better than the chipmunk, a big tail to give it more points, looks more majestic.
The chipmunk and squirrel were fully concentrated, no one dared to move. The moment they move, they start to run around the tree trunk, their paws rubbing against the tree trunk to make a sharp sound, and it’s hard to say who is chasing who. As if there is an agreement, after running a few laps, they suddenly stopped at the same time and changed their positions, but still facing each other across the tree, not daring to relax the vigilance in their eyes.
Branch flower finch is only the size of an egg, standing on the tip of the grass is only bent a little, it is interested in watching the two mice chase game, the breeze blew up the forehead of the bird’s fine soft downy hair, a wing, the slender blade of grass swaying in the wind.
The chipmunk and squirrel’s stalemate for a few days, the squirrel is almost all eaten out of the tree hole in the food, the chipmunk is not in the door harassment. The squirrels left the tree hole to dig out last year’s stock of food, which was east of a nest, west of a buried walnut, hazelnuts, pine cones, corn, and other miscellaneous rations. Some can be found, more seem to have been forgotten, and even in some places grains not belonging to them are dug up. This can be blissful.
Chipmunk and squirrel fighting over food
Within a few days of the clean days, the squirrel was crouching on a branch nibbling on a walnut in his arms, and the sunlight coming through a crack in the tree was just right. I saw the chipmunks on the opposite side of the earth, pulling artemisia grass into the rock crevices.
The squirrel did not care about eating, and hurriedly hid the walnuts in the tree hole, and carefully stretched out their heads to explore the opposite situation.
For several days, the chipmunk was moving around the crevice, and it seemed that the chipmunks had settled in the squirrel’s former home. Chipmunks prefer to come out at night to look for food than squirrels do, so the squirrel is always worried that its hidden food will be stolen by the chipmunks during the night.
During the day, the squirrel checks each hiding place for food, and while most are safe, some are empty. But the squirrel can’t be sure if it has misremembered or eaten the grain, or if the chipmunks have stolen it. The consolation is that the squirrel always finds a new stockpile of grain in an unexpected location. But again, it doesn’t know if it’s its own ration or another rat’s.
The days pass slowly, with uncertainty and surprise. With plenty of food and no worries about the nest, the squirrel and chipmunk never argue again. One foraged during the day and the other at night, and they did not even see each other on a regular basis. Sometimes in good weather, the squirrels could see the chipmunks combing their fur in the sunlight at the entrance to their burrow.
Snake Crisis between Chipmunk and Squirrel
This day the weather is a little hot, squatting in the trunk of a tree to cool off, the squirrel saw the opposite side of the dirt a huge cauliflower snake swimming in the grass. It was obvious that the cauliflower snake was targeting the chipmunk in the rock crevice. The squirrel tensed up, stood up straight, and let out a shrill cry, which is the characteristic scream of meeting a natural enemy, hoping that the chipmunk can hear it.
The squirrel knew that there was only one entrance to the crevice, and if the snake blocked it, the chipmunk would be doomed. Seeing the cauliflower snake approaching the hole, the squirrels ran around the trunk of the tree, screaming shrilly, but no chipmunks rushed out of the hole. Even the grass between the chipmunks also found the squirrel’s strange, jumped to the high out to see the cauliflower snake, rushed to issue a warning, a group of chipmunks then chirping.
At this time, the cauliflower snake has been forced to the hole, to the ears of the squirrels and birds chirping deaf, slowly drilled into the rock crevice.
The squirrel stopped screaming, stood up straight and stared at the hole, as if, the end was already predetermined. The rock crevice that had made him tremble last year had still buried a chipmunk.
When the cauliflower snake was most of the way into the hole, the squirrel lowered his front paws, but an alert chirp came unexpectedly. This is the characteristic alarm sound of rodents, although slightly different from the squirrel chirping, but the squirrel still reacted at once, not to stand up straight.
There was still a snake’s tail left in the crack of the stone on the dirt canyon, but in the other direction, behind another stone, a small head suddenly poked out, climbed up the stone, and looked at the snake’s tail from a distance. A short tail, three paths behind it, isn’t that a chipmunk.
Hey, the chipmunks are good at playing holes, the original in the living in the time, has long been dug through the earth, leaving themselves a path of escape. Really smart chipmunks, no wonder the squirrels could not catch it.
The chipmunk found nothing and had no choice but to leave. However, the chipmunk also left for a few days. The squirrels were not surprised to learn that after a nest has been visited by a predator, it always leaves behind a smell unique to the predator, which is still very lethal to the cautious rodent. After a while, when the smell was almost gone, the chipmunks did return, and the chipmunk and squirrel became neighbors again.
The chipmunks on the branches still often stood at the tips of the grasses, swaying slightly with the bent blades of grass. He didn’t see the chipmunk and squirrels’ chasing game anymore, but he could see the squirrels nibbling on the fruit and the chipmunks who kept digging out the new soil.