Met Pirate by the lake on the way home - he's got a lot of shifts this week (yay), so if we hadn't gone today he would have had no squirrel time until Monday. Can't have that...

We arrived at the tree at the same time, and as we propped our bikes against it a squirrel came down the trunk to peer at us. Nuts, monkeys? We think it was a new one that ( Read more... )

Squirrel update, because they're more interesting than tedious things like work and such.

Things I am learning about the fox squirrels of Lake Merritt: They are apparently very visually-oriented, and they are clever little beasties.

Last week, Pirate hied himself up to REI and bought a two-person pocket hammock with extended straps for putting up ( Read more... )

Pirate and I observed Labor Day with a picnic lunch in Lakeside Park, then some time spent up in our favorite tree, feeding our little squirrel friends.

We're pretty sure there are now five squirrels who are coming by to get trail mix from the monkeys. There's Honey Brown (who was the first one to brave coming up to us), Left Ear, and Nervy Nose. ( Read more... )

Pirate had an early-afternoon call yesterday, so we got up and out to do errands fairly early. A brisk ride to Kaiser Oakland to pick up a prescription, then downtown, Lakeshore Ave, and over to Lakeside Park to the tree.

Sure enough, Honey Brown showed up to say hi. And not long after, Nervy Nose appeared on the branch behind me:


( Read more... )

Although only second-hand this time.

Apparently the squirrels we get around here are fox squirrels (Sciurus niger). Coincidentally, one of the photos on the Wikipedia entry for fox squirrels was taken at Lake Merritt.

And a reader of the local newspaper's animal/wildlife column sent the columnist a photo of the nest of baby fox squirrels that he' ( Read more... )

I went by Lakeside Park today. When I rolled up, there was a squirrel poking around on the ground near my favorite tree. "I wonder if that's one of the ones I know?" I thought, then locked the bike and headed up the tree. I hadn't been up there five minutes - I'd barely gotten settled with my coffee and donut and trail mix container - when Honey ( Read more... )

I decided to go home after work by way of Lakeside Park today - I hadn't gotten out for much (any) of a walk at lunch, so spending some time outdoors sounded like a good idea. And, of course, there was always the chance that I'd get to see one of my squirrel friends. So I headed towards the lakeside labyrinth, put my U-lock around my frame and rear ( Read more... )

Saturday morning I resisted the siren song of the snooze button and got up earlyish and rode downtown with Pirate instead - he was working Outside Lands all weekend, so riding in together was one of our few chances to see each other when we were both awake. He headed to BART and I peeled off to Farley's for coffee and a donut (mmm, Pepples). After ( Read more... )

Apparently magpies are a big problem for Australian bicyclists, due to their habit of attacking cyclists as they ride by. People have died as the result of Australian magpie attacks. Various homebrewed solutions to repel the birds have been created, but as this video shows, magpies are persistent:

Click to view

Two adult peregrine falcons (dubbed "Clara" and "Esteban Colbert") are raising four babies on top of City Hall in San Jose, California. They can be seen on webcam here.