The Rat Came Back

I was at the kitchen sink, again washing dishes, and I spotted something strange under the bird feeder that's positioned for me to watch it from that vantage point:

This is not a squirrel.

The grass was a bit long but laid over, so I was mostly catching movement in the blades.

Then I caught sight of its face.

Then I saw it scamper.

I hadn't seen any rats in the backyard in about three years, so I'll have to get the pest control folks to rebait the traps outside.

One of the persistent and determined squirrels was back to focusing on the feeder above, hanging on a yard hook stuck in the ground:

I'm sure this rat was glad that the squirrel was spilling more seed down to the ground with his valiant efforts to break into the food bank.

But then the squirrel fell:

I was not quick enough with my camera to capture the way those two creatures tangled with each other, but I can assure you the squirrel was the one who backed away. That rat was not playing and he owned the day. They were wary of each other from then on.

That's downtown living, I suppose!