I need another name for squirrels

I have a couple of bird feeders outside of our house. I'd have more, but I've run out of trees and places where I can watch the birds. I like to watch .... the birds ....

I do very much enjoy seeing what kinds of birds we have in our area, and specifically watch them while they eat. At one particular feeder I have a mated pair of House Finches that come every day. She sits on one side facing one way, he sits on the other side facing the other way. They're very cute, and I rarely see them come separately.

On Saturday afternoon I was sitting at my kitchen table, looking out the window at a feeder when on the fence between our house and the neighbours two squirrels were sitting there eyeing my feeders.

I do like squirrels, but I don't like the damage they do the bird feeders. They're not called "bird" feeders for nothing.

I digress.

The one smaller squirrel caught my attention first. Something was different about this little fellow. He was smaller, but I could tell he wasn't a baby either. Realization dawned on me that in fact he had no tail, or at least a mere nub of a tail was all that he'd had left. I'm sure he had some wicked story to tell over that one.

At the understanding that I was now dealing with a 'handicapped' squirrel my heart softened to the furry bloke - just a little.

They started up their scare tactics chatter that squirrels do, so I went out to our deck to see if one of my cats were bothering them. Can't have that.

Once I got outside, the pair had moved and one was on the tree only a couple of feet from me. This one was slightly larger - and had a gigantic tail. However, to my astonishment - this squirrel was missing an eye AND had a torn up ear!

Talk about heart wrenching! I'm sure I quite audibly gave a "ohhhh myyyy nooooo" gasp of compassion. And despite my strong feelings of not encouraging the little rotters I went back into the house to get some bird seed to put on the fence for the squirrels to get.

You'd think my story would end here, happily ever after, squirrel couple well fed (and safe from all felines). That I'd have them in for cuddles and daily tea times by the fireside, but no .... my story does not end, and my heart not fully wrenched from my chest cavity yet.

I came back outside to put the seed out for them, the smaller, tailess squirrel was on a tree beside the fence. It was scampering up and down feverishly calling his friend and tailfull / earless mate to come away. Suddenly I made another discovering about my tree living neighbours. Mr. No-tail (prefer to think of him as a him) was an amputee! He was missing a hind leg.

Forget the previous "ohhhh myyyyy noooo", I now let out a huge grown of condolence.

I really have to have the furry neighbours over more often, sit them down for a good old fashioned chin-way. There has to be a good story behind these two. How did they meet? Did they get the plate of the car they crashed into?? Did they meet at the vets office over comparing war wounds? What?

I'll try to get a picture of them. They really are quite cute.