Squirrel and Chipmunk Photography by Kozmic Dreams

My Digital Photography of

Squirrels and Chipmunks

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Southern Flying Squirrels, Glaucomys volans

Click the photo below to see photos of flying squirrels.

Red Squirrels, Sciurus vulgaris

Pinckney State Park, November 3, 2020

This red squirrel appeared to be enjoying the sun in a pine tree.

Backyard, September 26, 2020

I have never seen a baby red squirrel, so I was not sure what they were supposed to look like. I happened to look out the window to see this baby at the base of the elm tree. At first, I thought maybe it had fallen, but then I saw its mother (the squirrel photographed September 14, 2020) and she seemed to know what she was doing, so I left things alone. After I took these photos, I walked away for a minute and returned only to see her carrying the baby up the tree trunk. I never saw it again and it was obvious the mother was no longer nursing after a few days. If I had known better, I would have rescued it the moment I saw it out there. After looking at photos on the internet of baby red squirrels, there are none that look like this one. It is now clear to me that it had a serious hairlessness condition over most of its body and never would be able to survive. It may already have been having trouble warming up, which is maybe why its mother brought it into that sunny patch on the ground.

Backyard, September 14, 2020

I collect bones I find in the woods and decorate the garden with them. The squirrels often pull them up from the ground to nibble on. I finally captured photos of this habit. This mama squirrel pulled up a bone and carried it into the elm tree to chew on. These were taken through the window.

Backyard, October 3, 2019

I had my macro lens on and was in the middle of photographing a monarch butterfly release when I saw this Cooper's hawk minding its own business on the fence. I figured I'd take a few photos of the hawk. Just after I took the first one, I saw it flap its wings and move over to the right. I didn't realize what was happening until I saw that the squirrel was trying to use its normal runway on the top of the fence and the hawk was blocking the way. After they stared at one another, the squirrel decided to go down and around the hawk.

Backyard, June 9, 2017

I saw this squirrel fiddling with something I thought was an egg. I grabbed the camera and took these through the window. I still couldn't quite see what the squirrel had. It finally half-buried it and I went outside to see what it was. To my surprise, it was just an oval rock. It clearly had teeth marks in it. I guess the squirrel must have liked this particular rock for wearing down its teeth and decided to keep it safe.

Marshall Park, March 4, 2017

Backyard, February 18, 2016

Lake Erie, July 19, 2014

This one was just a baby. It was eating something, but I just missed capturing that moment.

The Red Squirrel of 2011

This is the cutest, reddest squirrel I've ever seen. He's just a baby, and didn't appear until the end of January 2011. He made snow tunnels all throughout the backyard. I didn't realize how extensive they were until the snow started to melt and they became visible.

February 9, 2011. The entrance/exit of this tunnel is just a few feet from the steps, which is where the peanuts are kept.

February 11, 2011 by the same snow tunnel.

February 16 and 17, 2011. The snow has melted and has made the squirrel's snow tunnel network visible.

Here is a video of him taken on February 17, 2011

Here he is making noise in the neighbor's pine tree on September 22, 2011

Fox Squirrels, Sciurus niger

Fox Squirrel #13, Backyard, November 15, 2023

My big elm tree had to be cut down after most of it was broken in a tornado. At least this squirrel has found a use for the stump---it was sunning on it, laying flat, just before I opened the door to take its photo.

Fox Squirrel #12, Backyard, February 18, 2022

This squirrel photobombed some silouettes I was taking of cardinals with the moon in the background, so I decided to make him the subject. It was dawn and I took these with a flash, so he was a little confused.

Fox Squirrel #11, Backyard, May 13, 2019

This squirrel was glaring at me through the doorwall, waiting for me to fill up the feeder.

Fox Squirrel #10, Kensington Metropark, April 22, 2019

Fox Squirrel #9, Backyard, June 17, 2018

It was in the 90's today. This squirrel was so hot, it was laying in the shade in the front of my house, flat on the ground.

Fox Squirrel #8, Lake Erie Metropark, October 7, 2017

Fox Squirrel #7, Holland Ponds, November 1, 2015

Fox Squirrel #6

Some work was being done on my roof and the ladder was against the house for a few days. On July 17, 2013, this squirrel decided one of the rungs was a great place to sprawl out!

Baby Fox Squirrels

December 19, 2013. Running around in Lansing.

Fox Squirrel #5

This squirrel was very friendly and came right up on the ledge to eat the peanuts, letting me open the doorwall and get up close. I would have taken more photos, but I had to be somewhere and was on my way out. These were taken June 22, 2012.

Fox Squirrel #4

Here is a video of one of the backyard squirrels enjoying my unused Halloween pumpkin on January 26, 2012.

Fox Squirrel #3

This squirrel was photographed eating sunflower seeds in my backyard on June 9, 2011.

Fox Squirrel #2 near The Largest Maple Tree in Hines Park, October 9, 2010

This cute squirrel has a nut in his mouth. He was photographed in a tree near The Largest Maple Tree in Hines Park.

Fox Squirrel #1

There are quite a few squirrels that come on the back steps to eat peanuts, but I usually don't photograph them. Here is one that I did on September 19, 2010.

Eastern Gray Squirrels, Sciurus carolinensis

Gray morph

Kensington Metropark, July 2, 2017

Black morph

Heritage Park, Farmington Hills, MI. January 29, 2017

The Garden City, Michigan "A & W" Squirrel

Every time I went to the Garden City A & W and sit in the lot to eat around the side of the building, this same black gray squirrel (with a bit of brown undercoat) always walked along the overhead wires. When I was sitting there with Brian on November 8, 2009, I immediately thought of the squirrel and wondered where it was. Just a few minutes later, I saw it in the distance and it started walking on the wires. For a little while, I couldn't tell where it had gone, but then I saw it in what I believe is a bald cypress tree. Apparently, it has a favorite branch that is perfectly horizontal and just right for lounging. I don't think I've ever seen a squirrel just lay down on a branch, but that is exactly what this one did. It looked very relaxed. I happened to have my parents' point-and-shoot camera with me, so I took a few pictures of it (too bad I wasn't toting around my good camera). The last photo was when I got almost to the wall that separates us---it perked up its tail and its eyes opened wide. I decided to head back to the truck at that point so it could continue relaxing on this nice, sunny, 65-degree day.

Melanistic Gray Squirrels

Kensington Metropark. December 25, 2019

This black gray squirrel had a streak of white in its tail.

Heritage Park in Farmington Hills. July 14, 2018

This black gray squirrel had a red tail.

Kensington. March 25, 2018.

This really friendly squirrel had a lot of brown on it.

I'm pretty sure this is the same squirrel, photographed December 25, 2019, by Brian Beauchene.

Chipmunks, Marmotini

Waterloo, Eddy Discovery Center. March 27, 2020

This particular chipmunk has been in this tree trunk the last two visits, but this is the first time I was able to photograph it before it went back into hiding.