In Search of White Squirrels - II

After last week’s disappointment, I came early and headed straight towards the southwestern corner of the park. As soon as I entered the area, there was one standing right in front of me. I think both of us were a bit startled by this encounter. I fumbled with my camera to take a quick snap. In my enthusiasm, I kind of rushed towards the little creature. This certainly spooked her as she dashed towards the nearest tree and vanished into the thick foliage. I was only able to capture part of her white furry tail in this first attempt.

After a lengthy search, I was able to spot a white blob high up in the tree. She was definitely hiding. It was the same tree where I found a meditating pigeon last week. Now the whole flock was there in higher branches, doing some kind of group yoga. It seems that these pigeon folks and white squirrels are neighbors. Birds are living near the canopy while squirrels occupy lower tiers.

After a while, she jumped to another location but was still in no mood to come down.

The only thing I can do now was to wait patiently and win her trust. So, I sat down on a nearby bench and tried to look disinterested by reading my e-book. 

This ploy worked as her fluffiness slowly descended from her high throne after a while. First, looking around tentatively and gauging the situation. 

But soon she got busy with her usual activities of running, jumping, hiding things or just looking cute. This gave me ample opportunity to photograph her in action.

A second white squirrel also joined the activities after some time.

This one found a treat left by some visitor. After finishing her meal, she went up the tree again and cleaned her hands and mouth vigorously.

This one is either trying to make friends with the sparrows or trying to make a meal of them. She failed on both counts.

Black and white squirrels live here side by side. In fact, both belong to the same family of grey squirrels. The white ones are albinos with red eyes; lacking the skin pigmentation gene, while the black ones have a mutant pigment gene that gives them their distinctive color.

As compared to the black squirrels, the white ones are quite rare. First off, the gene causing albinism is recessive. Then they suffer from poor vision and can easily become prey due to their color. Thus their population remains very low. There may be just a handful of these lovely creatures in the whole of Toronto.

After half an hour of work and play, both white squirrels vanished behind the houses toward Crawford Street. The black one also disappeared in high branches of a tree closeby, indicating that today's show was over.