One Tired Mama

  How much longer?  Little Mama Gray Squirrel looks exhausted.  Even though she was noticeably pregnant when building her nest, she is now huge.  And tired.  If there is one bunch of critters that exasperates me, it would be male squirrels.  They have to be the laziest and greediest things around!  While Little Mama built the entire nest, gathered seeds and nuts to stow away for later use and made haste to secure the nest, the male did nothing.  Well, nothing except go right behind her and eat what she had so diligently stashed.  Now, Little Mama is almost beyond able to search for food and nothing is where she left it.  She is exhausted and hungry.  

  This morning, Little Mama ventured a good ways away from her nest in the tall pine to see if there may be a morsel left in the bird feeder for breakfast.  This bird feeder dangles from a thin shepherd's hook so accessing it is no easy task even for agile squirrels.  Add a big belly in the mix and it is nigh on impossible.  Little Mama climbed the screen door to see if she could make the ten foot leap to the feeder.  Thankfully, she had second thoughts and sat down to rest while thinking of what to do next.  My heart went out to Little Mama.  She needed help.

  All I had readily available was a bag of oatmeal cookies.  Even though the things tasted terrible to me, they may suffice for a hungry squirrel.  With my hands full of cookies, I eased open the doors and stepped out.  Little Mama eyed me cautiously but made no effort to leave her perch.  I held out a cookie and stood silently.  At first, she was fearful and did not move.  After a bit, I guess hunger got the best of her because she snatched the cookie from my hand and started to nibble.  I laid four more near her and backed away to watch her dine and also keep the greedy males at a distance while she ate.

  Little Mama seemed to fully appreciate the handout and ate all of the cookies.  After stopping to drink a bit of water from the cat bowl, she slowly made her way back to the nest.  It would not surprise me if Little Mama has her babies tonight.  Hopefully, my offerings will help her and also let her know that she is welcome to come back for more.  Sweet Little Mama, I will feed you when I can.  Now go get some much needed rest before you give birth.