Mammal Monday

This squirrel was first spotted with a mouth full of leaves. It was lining this arboreal snug.

The big leafy bundles in trees, sometimes mistaken for bird’s nests, are summer squirrel nests. (Actually, none of our birds build nests of leaves.) In winter, squirrels want something more substantial: a tree hole, an attic…. A squirrel nest is called a drey or dray, which the OED tracks back to E17 but throws up its hands when it comes to etymology: “[Origin unkn.]”