Baby is back!

"Baby" is a 3-month-old Eastern Gray squirrel found in the grass beneath my birches last September. He was rescued with a diet of infant Gatorade, goat's milk and walnuts. Two weeks ago he transitioned to outdoor living via a nesting box on the front porch.

He appears to be communing with his estranged mother and siblings. He follows them at dusk to their home somewhere across 13th Street. He was at the kitchen bird feeder this morning. Like the other squirrels, he stuffs himself with sunflower seeds and unsalted peanuts.

Baby takes shelled walnuts from my hand, but seems more attracted to my thumb, which he hugs and nibbles when offered at the end of my outstretched arm. This is a game we developed while he was still a house resident. One of these days, I suspect, the nibble will become an unconscious bite, and that will be the end of that!