There’s an old New England saying:
You can tell how bad the winter will be by how high the squirrels make their nests.
That’s why I got worried when I saw this particular squirrel’s nest in the tree behind our house.
I first noticed it walking home in late November, the leaves had just fallen, revealing a large squirrels nest way up in one of the back-yard maples. It caught my eye not only because it was so high up, but because it was huge. Even from a half block away it looked big, leaf pile high up in the branches.
If a squirrel’s nest way up high, and huge, meant anything, it looked like we were due for a really bad winter. But the nest was so huge and precariously placed, I began to wonder about the wisdom of my furry friends in making their home way out on a limb. It looked like the nest wouldn’t make it through the first big storm. But then again, according to the old adage, the squirrels know what they are doing!
As fate would have it, the Winter has been pretty mild this year and I was beginning to wonder about veracity of the squirrel nest weather forecasting system. That is, until last Saturday when we got our first mild snowstorm. The squirrel’s nest had no problem with that storm an actually came through with a nice snow encrusted roof.
The real test came mid-week when we had a 36-hour blizzard with wind gust allegedly up to 70 M.P.H. I thought the nest would have been blown to tatters by the gale force winds. but my furry pals made it. The nest lost it’s snowy roof and some of the leaves on top but is still hanging on up there. Must be one heck of a ride inside.
We shall if it makes it through the winter. There are two months to go and there’s a storm due with a foot of snow in a couple of days.
All I know is that those squirrels’ had to be nuts to have built a nest out on a limb like that!
copyright 2015 Magnus Incognito