Acorn meal, Babcock

More warmth, and with it comes a stirring in the mammals that, so far, have treated the winter, however balmy and snow-free it's been, as a fine time to lay low and do as little as possible. As a first sign of impending change, I've noticed a fair number of Gray Squirrels out and about, and one of their main activities at this point is trying to pack in as many calories as possible in the event that February reverts to proper form. We had a fine acorn year in 2015, and the Grays have buried lots of nut caches. Now that the animals are out of their leafy nests in the trees, they're busy sniffing the forest floor in an effort to detect their food reserves. This is hardly random, hope-for-the-best olfaction—squirrels have fine memories, and they're using their noses as a final step in finding the location of food "stored" in their mental map. So up came a nut, but there's no telling why the gourmand decided to leave dinner unfinished.