Squirrels


Some would say to me "why are you writing about squirrels? Squirrels are just rats with fluffy tails and good PR." Firstly, no, no they aren't. Secondly, I'm actually quite fond of rats, and if I encountered some in the wild, I would certainly write about them. Of course, i haven't (muskrats don't count), but still.


I rather like squirrels. Often they're the animal you see the most of when walking, though these days I'm pretty sure the deer outnumber them 2:1, at least. We get two varieties of squirrel around here. One is the Grey Squirrel Sciurus carolinensis, which, confusingly enough, can also be black. It's the larger, and I believe more agressive of the two varieties, and has been introduced, detrimentally, to other countries, though it IS, apparently, native to eastern north america. I recall hearing somewhere that it was introduced to this particular region, but I can neither confirm nor deny that.


The other, and in this particular neighbourhood, more common variety is the Red Squirrel, also called the American Red Squirrel Tamiasciurus hudsonicus. This is not to be confused with the European Red Squirrel, which is near threatened, wheras the American Red Squirrel is not. Now, the red squirrel is kind of a specialist eater. About 50% of it's diet comes from cones....spruce cones and such, though I've seen them eating pine cones with great enthusiasm. Since there are ALOT of conifers around here, it's not suprise that I see alot of red squirrels. They also seem to like birdseed. The combination of one squirrel proof birdfeeder, one hungry squirrel and a bag of sunflower seeds is, quite frankly, better than TV. They have a really high mortality rate....about 22% of red squirrels make it through their first year of life, though afterwards their chance of surviving increases dramatically. They seem to be eaten by absolutely everything. Around here, for example, we get Northern Goshawks, Coyotes, great horned owls and, for a brief and giddy period, Martens, though I myself never got to see one. Red Squirrels, which, confusingly, can also be grey, brown and occasionally black, are alot more vocal that Grey Squirrels. yesterday, for example, I really offended a couple of them, and got a severe scolding. In spite of the fact that they can be coloured similarly to chipmunks, and Grey Squirrels, they are more or less unmistakable....they are larger than the former and smaller than the latter, and have white underbellies, which the Grey squirrel lacks.

I am always happy to see large numbers of squirrels, as that usually heralds an excellent year for coyotes, hawks and owls in the not too distant future.