To Be Young at Heart
even in the animal kingdom, there's just something about a child-like perspective!
I’m so glad you’re here! Moments is a place to explore connecting with nature, appreciating the wonders unfolding in the world all around us all the time. I hope my photography + stories will inspire you to be curious, be amazed, and then do it again!
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Baby animals have a cuteness level that is hard to properly quantify. I’m convinced that most of the world’s differences could be resolved over a shared affinity for baby-animal-cuteness.
Hey, I know this is frustrating, so can we just talk about baby animals for a minute? Okay, wait, what were we mad about, again?
Whether it’s the grumpy-cuteness of fledglings, or the fluffy-cuteness of furries, young animals of all kinds possess a connection quality that is specially engineered to span the distance between any two hearts.
a squirrel story
A flash of movement caught my eye, and I turned in time to watch a pair of Red Squirrels streak around the broad trunk of a towering Eastern White Pine.
I waited for them to circle around and put a suspicious eye on me, as our Maine Red Squirrels often do. Adult Reds frequently chase and scold each other, and if you wander into their awareness, they’ll circle the trunk to a proper vantage point to give you a proper scolding, too.
I saw a little head inch out from behind the tree as I slowly drew a bit closer. With a whirl and a flash, he disappeared again.
Except, I almost thought…
He hadn’t circled around the tree trunk after all - he had leapt right inside!
As a misty autumn rain settled over my silent laughter, I waited for his adorable nose to reappear from within his cozy hiding place.
There he is! Slooooowly-peeking-out…Quickly-diving-in! Slooooowly-peeking-out…Quickly-diving-in!
He was playing Peekaboo with me! I noticed the second Red perched on an upper branch, waiting. I could feel these sibling vibes as he looked down on the scene, shaking his inner-squirrel-head like, “That doofus.”
These guys had to be young. By the time spring comes around, they’ll be defending territory, chasing away all encroachers, choosing mates, nesting, finding proper perches from which to scold me thoroughly…
But for this one brief moment, they were just like any other two young siblings - one playing peekaboo with me while the other one rolled his eyes!
another squirrel story
When my little girl was even littler, just about 5 or 6 years old, she was sitting on a log in a little sunny clearing. It was spring and the days were warm, everything in a hurry to turn green and bloom. A little Red Squirrel appeared from the edges of the forest and began scampering around the clearing nearby. My husband paused, hidden behind a cherry tree, to see what would happen next.
The squirrel bounded around the clearing, swishing through grasses or leaping from roots, stopping periodically to consider the log. She was curious about the figure perched there.
The little girl sat very still. The little squirrel circled nearer, then nearer still, and then stopped, just right next to the little girl, and became perfectly still. Neither had probably ever been quite so still for quite so long in all their little lives.
The little girl slowly stretched one little hand toward one little head. The little squirrel considered the outstretched friendship, calmly, softly, and let one gentle finger brush her from head to tail. The moment lingered in the space between sundrops, and then the little squirrel shook her shining fur and leapt into the grass, looking back over her shoulder. The little girl leapt after, and for a few glorious sunlit moments, girl and squirrel circled and chased like playground pals.
And then the little squirrel was gone, back into the forest, a wild playdate tumbling into a breathless tale, now living in a golden glow of memory.
the dark-eyed junco
Dark-eyed Juncos are frequent visitors around our cabin, in cheerful flocks that arrive while it’s still snowing and busily help themselves to the feeders all season long. They are used to us, but they have never grown tolerant of our presence. They streak away at the first hints of our movement in their direction, white tail-stripes flashing their signature goodbye as they disappear into the forest. They return to the feeders once we’ve retreated from view.
But this is a Junco, too. A young one, fledged just this year. She is already strong enough to fly, to forage, to do all the things that the adults in the flock do. But when the flock streaked away, she perched on a low-hanging branch, instead. She considered me with bright eyes, turning her head this-way-and-that, maybe tossing her feathers just a bit in that little-girl way, innocently aware of all of her cuteness. She was entirely unbothered by me, mildly curious, wondering what all the fuss was about.
When the flock returned, she would join in with all their activities once more. And if I see her again as an adult, she will be just like the others, visiting regularly, sweeping away at the first noise of approach.
But just for a moment, her young worldview brought a moment of connection that adulthood just doesn’t accommodate.
the yellow-bellied sapsucker
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are fascinating woodpeckers at any age. They drill sap-wells into the bark of their favorite trees, and then tend them, lapping up sap in between foraging for insects. The wells become watering holes for all sorts of other nectar-oriented wildlife, as well.
One day, I was standing in the apple orchard, just being amazed by all the butterflies that were coming to visit the wells. What a great chance to take some photos of creatures that are rarely still! A Mourning Cloak, a White Admiral…
Suddenly, in swooped the excavator himself, the young Yellow-bellied Sapsucker who had been so busily carving and tending these particular wells.
Adults are quick to retreat to high perches, and even if I’m sitting still, it usually only takes them one look to decide I’m way too suspicious and alarm away to a tree in a quieter and more desirable neighborhood.
But to this young bird, I was merely a curiosity. He fixed me with a long gaze. Then he looked around his wells. Then back at me. Almost showing off.
See these? See all this work I did?
He lunged at a butterfly, who whirled into the dappled canopy and angled in towards a new landing. He lunged again to scatter the interloper for good. The butterfly properly seen off, he turned his attention back to me.
Shoo, mine not yours, shoo, shoo! Now, where was I? Right, there you are! See this one? See this one? Mmmmmm, it’s so delicious, see?!
It’s the closest I’ve ever been to one of these beautiful, industrious, fascinating, wild birds, a special moment brought about by a special stage of life.
young at heart
Animals are born with all of these instincts. The squirrel can jump and climb, the bird can fly, the chipmunk will stash. There are so many things they don’t really have to learn, they just instinctively do.
But they have learned experiences, too. They learn to be cautious of the world. That doesn’t necessarily happen right away. It’s not ingrained, it’s not instinctive. It solidifies when they grow up.
Here on the homestead, we’ve had the privilege of getting to know a lot of our wild neighbors over time. We’re quite certain we’ve known some of them their whole lives! But while adults may become quite used to us, may even venture a hand-feeding here and there, there is just a fundamental difference with the way young animals view their world. Like us, animals seem to enter this life with an open curiosity for the world around them that is fragile and fleeting, and that will fade with adulthood.
Happily, we humans have the ability to call that open amazement back to mind and back to heart - so keep an eye out for your young wild neighbors, and you just might find a chance to meet them in their moment, and feel it touch your heart!
Wouldn’t Peekaboo Squirrel be so cute in a kid’s room? Or on a coffee mug? :) Custom prints are available from my Pixels Gallery!
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The more that I get to know my fellow non-human Earth companions, the more amazed I become at who they are, which often bears little resemblance to what biologists, zoologists and other animal scientists say is their behaviour.
That might explain the gap in knowledge. The scientists in their studies take an objective distant stance, which disallows seeing the squirrels, chipmunks and birds as they truly are but as objects of study.
That's truly a shame and a missed opportunity to understand more about these beautiful Earth companions.
Beautiful essay and images Sydney! I like the photos especially of the Red Squirrels. I have never seen baby Red Squirrels before. I will keeping an eye out for some this Spring!