robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I do a portrait of a Tree Rat on my terrace retaining wall.
Occasional squirrel in the yard until I started putting out feeders. Then in spring/summer 2016 a female nursing young I nick named Shirley. My little Jack Russell Tara became the squirrel's fitness trainer, climbing, jumping and running to avoid being on the menu mostly.
Spring/summer 2017 Shirley and young in and out of yard, and Tara got to where all I had to do was say "squirrel" and the next sound I heard was the doggie door flapping. Tara actually got a few tail hairs once.
Now this year I have seen up to 5 in the yard at once, all young at the stage the tail isn't fully fluffy yet. Tara got them all up on the playhouse/fort on the old swing set and the retaining wall then proceeded to lecture them about not stealing bird food.
Later that day Tara was in the yard and this one was eyeballing her and trying to decide if it should try a jump to the swing set. When it saw me with my camera taking its picture it decided to go up the power pole in the corner of the yard and sass both of us from a safe spot about 40' in the air.

80D, 100-400II+1.4xIII @ 560, 1/400 @ f/9.0, ISO 400, AF Center Point, Spot meter hand held at about 60'

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Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

Nice shot and "Go Tara"!!!
Pat

fredtoo Loc: Houston

Man that is sharp, right down to the spec of dust on a whisker...

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Thanks
Actually her legal name is Terror my wife went to get her license when she was little and lived in the house - short for Little Holy Terror which she earned by A. pestering the 5 cats to play with her B. using the stereo wires for teething C. favorite toy was an empty pint water bottle, run with bottle, release and chase it as it bounced over the tile floor(lots of fun noise also), catch, repeat from one end of the house to the other and back for up to 15 minutes, take a drink, then a nap in Papa's lap while he read, then do it over again.

And the birds who had been her buddies learned to fly when she went after a squirrel because once she didn't notice some doves and a band tailed pigeon eating on the ground between her and the squirrel on the swing set corner post. She ran right over them, even stepped on the pigeon. Now the birds get out of the way when she goes after squirrels.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Thank you
I used to have the mark I and it was great, the upgrade to the 100-400L mark II was worth it, it is greater and that 1.4x III works very well on both versions.

kenievans Loc: Dallas

Very nice shot! I have a Jack named Manny. He is 9 months. He loves squirrel chasing and water bottles too. This is our third one so I knew what to expect but Manny makes the other two look like they were lazy lap dogs with all his energy. Wouldn’t trade him for the world.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

My wife got Tara from a friend whose dog had a litter, she didn't know about Jack Russells (Tara is 1/2, Daddy was a Jack and Mama a Chihuahua Minature Daschund mix). Tara took after Daddy. So much for my wife's need for a lap dog. I was already retired so Tara became Papa's girl since we spent most of the day together with the cats. Tara loved to go with me to pick up our daughter from high school. The car would be surrounded by a mob of 90% girls "Oh, a puppy!" "Can I pet it, can I hold it?". Tara was just big enough to stand on the arm rest and put her head out the open window to get attention. Jasmine would take delight in making the boys, esp jocks, hold Tara, then she would lick them and when they smiled or laughed Jasmine would yell, "See, he does have a heart! He likes the puppy." Tara will be 9 the weekend after Thanksgiving. She can do lap dog at times. We do "Snoz and Newz" she stretches out beside me in the x-wide recliner and naps while I watch the news. If the news is boring we both snoz.

Tara guarding one of the bird feeders.

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RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Good catch.
We think squirrels are great, and we love to see them on our vists to North America.
We don't have them down under.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Thank you.

Eh, how many freight car loads would you like? I am sure UHH members could get you all you want. And then some.

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

None thank you, we have very strong quarantine barriers down here.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Gee, could that have something to do with "rabbits"?

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Sure does, and foxes.