Two paws. One daisy. Eyes closed in pure bliss. The viral image captured by Dutch wildlife photographer Dick van Duijn shows a tiny critter doing the unimaginable: stopping to smell the flowers.
It took 200 shots and hours of patient waiting, but van Duijn managed to snap several European ground squirrels, nose-deep in blossoms, resulting in a photoshoot that spread virally across the internet. His warm and fuzzy images reached far-away news outlets like The New York Post and the Daily Mail.
It was early summer when van Duijn, who owns a seafood stall on a bustling and breezy seaside promenade in Noordwijk, drove to an open grassland area on the outskirts of Vienna. The spot is famous for its wildflowers and native European ground squirrel colony.
It was calm on the early morning meadow. Birds could be heard chirping as a gentle wind moved the grass under a lacework of colorful flowers. Van Duijn spotted evidence of the colony: a head popping up here or there, alert and wary of danger.
The hobby photographer decided to focus his lens on a flower next to a small mound, allowing the critters to relax instead of chasing them. A squirrel did eventually enter the frame, though its interaction with the flower was over almost before it began. Van Duijn quickly snapped off a burst.
“For a second it looked as if it was smelling the flower, and I managed to capture the image at exactly the right moment,” van Duijn, 41, told The Epoch Times. “People often assume that the squirrels are deliberately posing for the camera, but in reality the behavior only lasts a second or two. You need to be ready at all times because the perfect interaction can be over before you even react.”
While the encounter left the photographer buzzing, the true magic didn’t reveal itself until he was back home, staring at his monitor. Sifting through his data card, he saw it: a blissed-out ground squirrel holding a yellow daisy to its nose, eyes closed.
“It is only later when I am reviewing the images on my computer that I discover the strongest photograph,” he said. “Among dozens of frames there was one where the squirrel’s position, expression, and the flower all came together perfectly.”
But while internet fans might project that human cliché into the picture, imagining the creatures literally pausing to “stop and smell the flowers,” van Duijn reveals a more ground-level reality: the rodents were simply sourcing a meal.
“What many people may not realize is that European ground squirrels are naturally curious animals,” he said. “They regularly investigate flowers, pick them up with their paws, and sometimes even eat them.”
Yet, caught in just the right frame, the behavior turns into magic on camera.
The massive response to the photos has been a wild ride for van Duijn, who still insists he’s just a dedicated amateur. He regularly totes his camera around Europe in search of red squirrels, lynx, or owls. His travels have taken him as far as Costa Rica to photograph bright-colored birds.
“It’s more of a hobby that has grown over time and perhaps gotten a bit out of hand—in a good way—but it’s not my full-time profession,” he says.
Now, with summer in full swing in his hometown, the hobbyist’s camera is temporarily tucked away while he runs his business by the seaside. This autumn, though, when the beach town quiets down, van Duijn hopes to slip away again, seeking small creatures doing adorable things.
