Our backyard is home to feisty gray squirrels who are welcome to grab a peanut or two from our veranda whenever they’re hungry, which is always. We have named many of our regular visitors and are entertained by their silly antics. Little Lefty used to roll a peanut around with his left paw to get it in his mouth, or if we set the jar of inshell nuts on the ground, he would grab one out of the jar with his left paw. Then he’d scamper off the patio and turn left to eat his treat while hanging upside down on a huge maple tree. Sweet Beggar would sit on the veranda railing and look in the kitchen window until we came outside holding the peanut jar. As soon as we sat down, she would sit at my feet and gently touch my hand with her paw before taking a peanut from my fingers. We have endless squirrel stories, some of which will appear in future blog posts.

One spring morning brought another squirrel surprise. I looked out my kitchen window to see a squirrel I’d not seen before. He was perched on the veranda railing, showing off his snow-white tail. What a magnificent tail it was. It looked like a bright-white feather duster. He wasn’t an albino squirrel because his body was gray and only his tail was white. I quickly snapped a few pictures of him before he ran into the forest, never to be seen again.

In the fall, we were reminded of our one-time visitor when two young squirrels donning grayish-white tails joined our backyard family.