I caught this Red Squirrel red handed invading one of my bird feeders. This little guy has a home further back on my Caledon property but occasionally comes around to raid the bird feeds.

Red Squirrel’s actually known as the American Red Squirrel is one of two species of tree squirrel currently classified in the genus Tamiasciurus and known as pine squirrels. It is a medium sized (200–250 g) diurnal mammal that defends a year-round exclusive territory. The diet of these tree squirrels is specialized on the seeds of conifer cones. As such, they are widely distributed across North America wherever conifers are common, except on the Pacific coasts where they are replaced by Douglas Squirrels. Recently, American Red Squirrels have been expanding their range to include primarily hardwood areas. For more info on the American Red Squirrel click here.

I took this picture with my new zoom lens I recently bought, a Sigma 50-500mm lens which is actually 1000mm max focal length equivilant under the 35mm film standard. For a larger picture click on the image above.

This little guy, an American Red Squirrel visits my place every morning to steal seeds from the bird feeders. The American Red Squirrel are widely found across North America. Their range includes most of Canada, and extends into the United States in the Rocky Mountains, the North Central and North East, so they are no stranger to Caledon, Ontario. There are 25 recognized sub-species of red squirrels. Click here for more info on American Red Squirrels. The photo was taken on my backyard deck back in the fall by my fiance.

Today I was just driving up and down several Caledon side roads hoping I might come across something neat. While on Coolihans Sideroad which is just south of Highway 9 and caught this little guy in the corner of my eye. He didn’t like me looking at me so fled up the tree initially but when he realized I only wanted to take a picture he reluctantly came back to his original spot and got back to his dinner.