Our Little Visitor

On Tuesday night after we put the kids to bed, I was sitting downstairs by myself with the windows open when I heard a loud rustling in one of the trees in the backyard. It was an extended rustling, much more than just the wind blowing the leaves. A few seconds later I heard a screeching noise that lasted for about 10 seconds then stopped. A few minutes passed and I heard the screeching noise again. This happened a few times and was still happening on and off when Ron joined me. We couldn't figure out what it was, but I was hoping maybe an owl had landed in one of our trees. We decided to go outside with a flashlight to see if we could spot anything in the darkness.

As you might imagine (looking at night and all), we really couldn't see much. The screeching continued and then suddenly something fell out of the tree right in front of us. After further investigation, we found a tiny little squirrel. We initially thought (hoped!) it was a flying squirrel since they are nocturnal and supposedly found around here. Once Ron picked him up and we got a closer look at him, we could tell he was a baby gray squirrel. The screeching was him crying, probably for food and/or out of pain. His nose was a little bloody. I don't know if the loud rustling was a cat who maybe dropped him or a bird or what.

We put the little guy in a box and tried to cover him a little with some leaves and such to keep him warm. We put the box back under the tree in the hopes his momma would come looking for him. Apparently when a baby falls out of its nest, the mom will usually come rescue him within a couple hours. Well, the poor little guy was still there by morning and he wasn't looking very good. I brought him in the house and covered him up a little better. That seemed to help and he started to stretch and wiggle a little. After the kids left for school, I hurried over to our wildlife center (where Danielle went to camp) and gave the little guy to them to care for. They said he was dehydrated and cold, but he had a chance. I'm a sucker. I donated a few bucks for his care and checked the box on the form to be notified of his outcome. They said someone had just turned in 11 baby squirrels on Saturday so he would have lots of little squirrely buddies to cuddle with.