I ran up the Sligo Creek Trail today. A brown shape caught my attention. Certain that it was a deer, I stopped to look, but I couldn't make complete sense of the shape. Then the deer became conscious of me, and raised her head. Then I realized I'd been looking almost straight on and her head had been down near the forest floor, in shadow.
A little further up the path, and I saw a black squirrel racing up the trunk of a tree that leaned slightly out over the creek. The squirrels will often jump up onto a tree when someone comes by, but this one seemed less cautious about me and more intent on getting somewhere. I stopped to watch as it continued to scamper up the trunk into the small branches at the top. About then, I realized it was heading for the other side of the creek, using the trees as a sky-bridge.
The squirrel's movements became more cautious as the branches got smaller, until it reached the end of the smallest branch that would hold its weight. It paused to weigh the gap over to the small branches reaching up from a tree on the other side of the creek, then gathered itself and launched. With true aim, it landed with the branch in its steady grasp and began its descent.
