Fir Cone Dinner

A chickaree, a close relative of the red squirrel, dines on a fir cone.

And here are closeups of the type of cone he is eating.  Fir cones grow straight up on their branches.  At this time of year their seeds are ready to harvest.  Each 'petal' of the cone holds two seeds and each seed has a little sail so it will float away from the mother tree.  The squirrels harvest the cones when they are a little green.  Some they eat right away, often devoting the seeds in a favorite spot such as the top of this old stump.  Other cones they will store, hidden away until needed during the long winter months.  

I sketched the squirrel and cones while I waited for him to return and harvest more. After my initial opportunity to sketch him, he choose to harvest from a different tree, farther away.  Even without the squirrel's return, it was fun sitting in the fall sunshine and sketching his dinner.