My yard seems to attract weird wildlife, especially in the squirrel department. Just in the last couple of years I have had a squirrel with no tail, a squirrel with a completely bald tail, and (blechhh) an otherwise-healthy-looking squirrel with a chunk of flesh missing from its flank. I’ve even had a neurologically-challenged squirrel that would tip over backwards every time it tried to sit up on its haunches. The latest weirdo has all his parts and is actually kind of cute. I think this Eastern Gray Squirrel came from the mailman, however, because he’s a little too red for a gray squirrel:
He’s not an American Red Squirrel. They are quite a bit smaller than the gray squirrels. In certain light, the little guy’s tail is almost white.
He gets along fine with the other squirrels, and he’s easy to spot. I’m mostly thankful that he has a tail and that it’s furry. A squirrel with a bald tail or no tail is really not something you want to gaze upon regularly.