Here we see an urban squirrel enjoying her pecan while sitting on the top bar of a chain link fence. These little creatures make use of whatever is available for moving about in their environment. The species pictured here is Sciurus niger, the Fox squirrel.

Most people think squirrels just eat nuts. Here we see another urban squirrel enjoying some grass from the lawn. Some folks have trouble with these little fellas raiding their bird feeders, too.

This squirrel is in the top of a pecan tree. If the tree had all its leaves, the color of her underbelly would make her difficult to see. From above, her fur makes it hard for a predatory bird to tell her from the branch she is on.

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I used to live in the Fort Worth area and our home had two mature live oaks in the front yard and 4 mature pecan trees in the back. Consequently, we had lots of fox squirrels, Sciurus niger, on the property and in the neighborhood.

Fox squirrels are active, interesting creatures and always fun to photograph. The first image shows one of our neighborhood residents on my front porch on a hot September afternoon.

The second image shows her spread-eagle on the terrazzo surface trying to soak up some cool. This location is shaded most of the day by the huge live oak trees.

The third image shows my furry friend up in the live oak tree after she noticed me with my camera. Fox squirrels are playful animals and generally very confident about their abilities to avoid predators. Unless they have been made fearful of humans, you can usually count on getting pretty close to squirrels living in the neighborhood. It makes it fairly simple to make pretty photos.

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