I heard some rustling at the top of an oak tree and various bits of debris and an acorn or two were falling through the canopy. I looked up to see a squirrel rustling around in the foliage. It appeared to be gathering acorns, but I couldn’t quite get a clear view. After about 5 minutes or so, it came scurrying down. It would climb down the trunk, perch on a limb, and survey the surroundings. Once the scene was assessed to be safe after about half a minute, it would continue down to the next limb. When it got low enough, I saw that it was a California ground squirrel and its cheeks were bulging with acorns! Ground squirrels have cheek pouches that they can stuff with extra food to take with them to cache for later. This one looks like it managed to cram maybe six to eight acorns or more in there! Maybe it had already retrieved any acorns that had fallen on the ground or maybe it was just easier to gather and choose yummy, healthy, bug-free acorns from the tree instead of hunting for them on the ground. I’m not sure, but it was interesting to see a ground squirrel at the top of an oak tree. I hadn’t really imagined it venturing up there, but it seemed at home navigating its way around high up in a tree.
