Forests up in Northern California have not only seen a lot of natural fires but also prescribed fires. For those that don't know, prescribed fires are an act of setting specific areas of trees on fire in the hope that it controls natural fire. You can see the fallen tree behind this Douglas' Squirrel is all charred. Human intervention is a strange thing to me. I guess it's human nature to try and control stuff, but I worry that this also devastates wild animal populations. Their resilience is impressive, though.

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Check out those fingers. You know, Douglas' Squirrel are actually quite small.  Just a little bigger than a Chipmunk I'd say. Very fun to watch in person.

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I wonder what this Douglas’ Squirrel was eating. What do you think?

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Another shot of a Douglas’ Squirrel at Lassen Volcanic National Park in California.

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This Douglas’ Squirrel was very curious of me when it saw me from a distance. I was hiding behind this fallen tree that that you can see in the photo. The Squirrel was a distance away on the opposite side so I would duck down to take photos of it. It happened to come closer to me as it was picking through things on the ground when it spotted my movements.

It stood up curiously and started moving closer to me. As it was nearing me, I slowly backed away. The squirrel climbed up on the fallen tree that I was ducking behind so I knelt down and took a bunch of shots at it as it was checking me out. This is one of those photos.

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The Squirrel in the back is a juvenile and the one in the front is an adult. They were chasing each other around quite a bit.

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While it looks like this Douglas’ Squirrel is just chilling on the branch, it was actually scratching its face. It laid down on its belly and rubbed its face from one side of the branch to the other to scratch its cheeks and chin. But in this particular frame it looks like it is just resting.

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A Douglas’ Squirrel having a bit of a break in the evening at Lassen Volcanic National Park.

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