Faster than a running raccoon. More powerful than a reel lawn mower. Able to leap from one tall pine to another in a single bound. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Super Squirrel, aka Clark!

Clark knows the roadmap of all of the pine trees and maples that line the property, and he makes death-defying jumps at ten to fifteen miles an hour from one tree to another in acrobatic precision. He can leap more than six feet to land on a small branch on an adjacent tree. Clark is up with the sun each morning, anxiously awaiting a bowl of in-shell peanuts, his kryptonite, from his human friends. He chases other squirrels around the yard at 20 mph, then scampers up one tree and down another.

A squirrel’s gymnastic feats in the trees are made possible by their strong legs and feet, sharp claws, and a bushy tail for balance. They have four toes on their front feet and five toes on their back feet. Unlike most mammals, squirrels have special swiveling ankle joints that can rotate 180°. This allows them to hang by their feet or descend a tree headfirst with their feet pointing in the opposite direction of their body.

They never seem to rest. But midafternoon, we’ve seen them take a break. The backyard show slows down in the heat of the day while they take a nap on their favorite branch. How they sleep balanced on a skinny tree branch is beyond me. But each has its special place to take a siesta and get ready for running races before bedtime. 

When summer brings warm afternoons, you may see your bushy-tailed friend lying on its stomach, legs spread, on a cool surface. This is called “splooting” to lower their body temperature.

In some cultures, squirrels are considered good omens. Their presence symbolizes abundance, prosperity, and good fortune. If a squirrel appears near you, it could be a sign that opportunities are on the horizon. We are definitely blessed with good fortune every day, except when the squirrels eat our tulip bulbs or dig up our potted plants.