Squirrel Training

It's about 7 am. Mother squirrel makes her way through the bushes, up a vine, and jumps to the branch that leads to the crotch of the tree that holds her nest. A moment after poking her head in, two smaller versions of her come out of the nest. She turns and heads back down, following the same route. The little ones behind her hesitate, try other routes to only find a dead ends, and, eventually, all are on the ground. Mother leads the way along the edge of the lawn, staying close to shrubbery and trees. For a moment, they disappear. Then the movement across the green shows their location. She is on the edge of the roof. A quick scurry over the ledge and down a window screen finds her on top of the air conditioner. After entering a hole in the mesh covering the AC, she sits on top. With a sudden leap she flies into a young tree. This tree is supple. She holds on as the branches sway back and forth with her weight. As the swaying slows, she makes her way down the tree and across the lawn. What next? Two little squirrel's head up the tree. I could almost hear them asking, "You sure we can't make it this way, mom? It looks a lot easier." But they find with no leverage to push off the soft branches and make the distance up to the AC, they'll have to follow the path shown to them. For the next twenty minutes, the kits practice: looking over the edge of the roof and estimating how to let go of it, while throwing themselves inward to catch a screen. Trusting they'll hold fast to a swaying branch after they leap into it. And trusting their mother as she leads them on to the next training.

הועלה ב-מאי 5, 2020 01:09 אחה"צ על ידי belled