A squirrel in the courtyard !

It was the loud and tuneful squirrel song that drew my attention during breakfast, which brought me to the courtyard. Except for its song, I would not have noticed it as it remained fixed on a dry branch of a tall teak tree, not so visible because of the custard apple tree.

I decided to wait to see it move, but it did not for forty five minutes. Neither it did stop its singing, although changed the pitch, tune and loudness periodically! 

This is the first squirrel I spotted since the heavy rain in August this year. It is its breeding time. So it looks like the long singing for finding a mate.

This looks like an Indian three striped palm squirrel from what I can make out (Funambulus palm arum). A similar squirrel with five stripes is noticed in north India. It is of the size of a Chipmunk and can be difficult to distinguish form a distance. 

As they live on nuts and fruits, we usually have many of them in our garden during their mating season. 

As it s easily domesticated, some people have them in their home, freely moving about. They come in and go out! 

I recall a friend in my school who used to have a squirrel in his shirt pocket through the class, till a teacher reprimanded him from bringing it to the class. He would still bring it to the school and leave it in the lunch bag he carried with him! He had a healthy sense of humour and animal friendly attitude. He spotted all those boys and girls who used to be frightened a squirrel. In less than a month he got the squirrel introduced to most of the class mates. Three boys and two girls who used to scream at the sight of the squirrel used to carry the squirrel in their palm at the end of a month. 

I meet this friend in the village, where Anna and I live. He is versatile and has developed skills in catching snakes from house gardens and letting them go back into the wild! 

Yes, friendliness towards the animal species is a habit we need to introduce to children very early!

Later in the afternoon I had another squirrel visiting our garden. This too immersed in its song! It is a pleasure to have these visitors in the garden!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)