Skittering

What's that noise? Skittering, something close but hidden, skittering...

I went for a quick walk in the early afternoon, escaping into the woods behind my office. I was walking down a trail, a canopy of leaves over my head. I heard something. Quiet, but something moving. I stopped and looked up. There was a chipmunk on a (bending) branch, just in front of me and above my head, seemingly just out of my reach. I looked at him, he looked at me, and then he bounded from the tree to the ground. He was gone, running.

Then this evening I was walking close to home. I passed under a big tree, and I heard a noise. I looked up. Nothing visible. I looked down, and there were remnants of nuts or pine cones all over the ground. I still heard noises, and then I saw things floating down from the tree. I don't know who was hiding in that tree, but more than one creature was up there, eating, tearing pieces, throwing things. My guess? Squirrels or chipmunks or both.