Two flickers are jockeying for position at the suet, in a bizarrely symmetrical display of grumpiness. Meanwhile, Notch the squirrel has returned and is contentedly sitting in the shallow dish of birdseed on the deck. Gimpy was around earlier, and got into a chase with (him? her?) but once they hit high speed, you can’t really tell who’s the pursuer or the pursuee.

Yesterday evening, I watched another nameless squirrel, with a stripe of ruffled fur down his back, walk up the tree, stopping every two or three hops to make a peculiar humping motion against the bark. I assume there was a whole lotta scent marking going on.

I wonder what took such a neat round hole out of Notch’s ear–it’s such a clean circle it seems unnatural. I’d expect more like cat ears, with the ragged chunks and wedges torn out. Maybe it’s just the way squirrel ears heal. Maybe he ran afoul of a BB. Hard to say, I guess.