Earlier this year we were really lucky to get screech owls nesting in the owl box we’d put up 4 days before. Baby owl fledged in July and it wasn’t long before new residents moved in...squirrels.

Like most gardeners I have a love/hate relationship with squirrels because they dig up all my bulbs. I can’t have tulips or crocuses anymore and they eat all the bird food. But omfg the babies are SO CUTE.

I was watching them last week when I saw something funny. Mama squirrel kept running back and forth from the nest box. It looked like she was giving her babies a tiny kiss.

Suddenly mama squirrel is grabbing at the babies and the babies are getting grumpy and going back into the nest. What is going on?

Here’s mama trying the classic “I’ll grab you by the mouth I swear to god...”

It’s a stand off.

Then out of nowhere Mama darts into the box and comes out with something wrapped around her. It’s a baby squirrel!

Baby squirrel doesn’t like this at all. But Mama has decided it’s time to move to another nearby nest. They were all scratching a lot so I’m wondering if there was a lice infestation. I’d never heard of this before but apparently squirrels commonly keep multiple nests.

Mama takes a LONG break on a nearby branch after she’s done moving her baby. That was hard work! Then she’s back to do it two more times.

I’d never even seen a baby squirrel before (they stay in the nest until they look pretty full grown) and felt so lucky to have caught this.