We simply cannot understand the dearth of squirrels. Where are they all? The ravine, to which we devote so much of our outdoor time each day seems mysteriously devoid of their presence, and we find this incredibly puzzling. There are some days when, throughout the course of our hour-and-a-half ramble through the woods, we see none at all. Other days when some appear, but not nearly resembling former numbers.

Where once, in the winter, we would see mostly red squirrels with the black and the grey in short supply as they hunkered down from the wind, the icy-cold, this winter we saw black and grey squirrels but no red ones. Now that spring has returned we've seen a scant few red squirrels, but few is the operative word here. Not only is it the operative word for the red squirrels, but we tend to see black and grey squirrels few and far between in numbers, as well.

Yet, on the other hand, the peanuts that I put out in the usual cache-places day by day are never left; if we happen to round about the same portion of the trail, the peanuts are gone. True, crows have a tendency to watch and to follow us and to take advantage of the offerings; they recognize us and are not shy about helping themselves. But for the most part, it is the squirrels who know where all their treat places are, and avail themselves of the peanuts.

We do occasionally see them doing just that. And we still have incidents where some of the bolder squirrels will approach us directly, waiting for an especially large peanut to be thrown to them. Still, the numbers must be telling us something. I've looked online to try to see whether they're being plagued with some kind of virus decimating their numbers, but there was nothing.

There was that dreadfully grotesque moment in the winter when we came across a perfectly frozen grey squirrel, arrested in motion right on the trail, quite intact but for its missing head. Try as we might, we were unable to speculate what had happened to it; most likely an unfortunate meeting with a raccoon. During today's walk we came across someone we've known casually for many years and he informed us that early last week his eye was caught by an unusual sight.

Hanging out of a hole in a tree, situated quite high up, there was a half-carcase of a black squirrel. We know there is a pair of nesting owls about somewhere. We've heard them but not yet seen them this year, speculating that they're a pair many people saw often in past years, returned, but more furtive in their presence than in the past. Earlier, another acquaintance had informed us that the nest where the owls had previously bred their offspring had been spotted to be stuffed with twigs, leading to the impression that mischievous squirrels had done that to 'get back' at the owls.

If any of what we've gathered is true, as anthropogenic as it sounds, it would appear that the owls are getting the better of the squirrels, as it were. And much as I think it's thrilling to see and hear the owls and know they're nesting in our neck of the woods, so to speak, I'd rather they didn't if it means they're intent on cleaning the ravine out of its squirrel population.