Technically this is an American Red Squirrel. But growing up in New England, where they ran rampant through our backyard woods along side chipmunks and much larger (and bolder) gray squirrels, we always called them “Red-tailed Squirrels.”
Mammals are somewhat uncommon in my wildlife photography, not from any lack of interest, but from simple probability. There are dozens of bird species present year-round, and significantly more so during the summer. In comparison, the number of mammal species along the East Coast is more or less static – we don’t have true mammal migrations in any meaningful fashion, and given the breadth of urban and suburban development, the pool of mammals I’m likely to encounter is relatively small, maybe even a dozen species or less.
So while I’d love to capture foxes, opossums, porcupines, and bobcats, those encounters require additional planning and logistics.
Which is a long way of saying that I was out birding last spring and found this red squirrel sharing space with some bluebirds and warblers. Since the opportunity was there, I took advantage of it and grabbed a few shots as this little guy scrambled up and down a nearby tree trunk.
After the fact, I realized I had captured another local species at the same time – the gnat, and quite possibly some mosquitos! You can see the dark specks in a cloud around the squirrel.
There would have been a similar swarm around me, too, if it weren’t for the wonders of deet!