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high park toronto winter painting

Story by Chantale Spencer

“This past summer I was sitting on the logs in OURSpace (the fenced field behind the High Park Forest School that now houses the Nature Centre) with some children during lunch. There were approximately 50 people in the field all engaged in activities. Then all of sudden we noticed a squirrel running through the field with something in her mouth. At first we thought it might have been a sock or some kind of food she was carrying. Once we spotted the squirrel she quickly ran up the tree and was gone. We all went back to our activities when we saw the squirrel again with something similar in her mouth. Two leaders and 10 children all stopped their activities and watched the squirrel, who, we quickly realized was moving her babies from one squirrel drey to another. She did this 3 more times for a total of 5 times. I found it so interesting that she felt comfortable enough to move her babies in front of us. Later that week the oak tree that held her original nest was trimmed. It was almost like she knew this was going to happen and moved her babies beforehand.”