When birds and squirrels attack

Photos by Sarah Phelan

The first clue we were under attack? A trail of fresh wood chips on the garden path

The second clue? More wood chips raining down on my cat at as he napped under the silver maple. 

I looked up through the massive soaring limbs of the maple tree with the silver-gray bark and saw a woodpecker  push a stream of blonde wood chips out of a hole she was excavating in a bough above my head. Clearly, she was preparing a nest, inspired by the spring-like February weather 

Just then, a squirrel loped along the broad avenue of the maple's branches, clawed its way down the tree's shaggy bark and jumped onto the garden table where she began shredding anold vinyl tablecloth.

Her goal? Remove the layer of insulated material inside the tablecloth and transport it to her nest. Even if it meant facing down an adult human and her cat along the way. Needless to say, bird and squirrel won. And we (the cat and I) wish them every success in their springtime efforts at raising family.