Pine eggs

While photographing horses on our neighbors’ place, I noticed that one of the bull pine trees was surrounded by unopened cones. That’s odd, because unless the cones are cut off the tree while they’re green, they usually are open and seedless, having let go of their seeds while still on the tree. With so many unopened cones on the ground, the squirrel(s) that did the cutting must have been removed from the scene before he/she/it/they could get to work to shred the cones and gather the nuts. A gray squirrel would be dopey enough to get caught by a coyote or other predator, so that’s probably what cut the cones.

Once, when we had three dogs, we were walking along the road. The dogs spotted a gray squirrel and gave chase. The squirrel darted up an oak tree where it was safe, but since the dogs were looking up at it and barking their fool heads off, the squirrel felt it was still threatened. It ran out along a branch to its end, and jumped to the ground ready to be re-chased up another tree! We stared, mouths agape, stunned by its dim-wittedness. I am surprised there are any grays left.