Squirrel Watching

The other day I just opened up the front door and watched the squirrels at play. This post is dedicated to "our backyard/front yard" squirrels!

gray squirrel

Our backyard squirrels are eastern gray or Sciurus carolinensis. They mainly have gray or brownish fur with a white underside and a large bushy tail. 

They are territorial...for many years we had one particular squirrel in our yard. We called him/her Stubby because his/her tail was just a stub.  Stubby would always show up at the feeder in the winter and in the summer on hot (very hot) days Stubby would sprawl out on the branches of our Tulip Magnolia. One day I noticed Stubby scampering across the yard very slowly, that was the last day I saw Stubby! Eastern grays can live up to 20 years in captivity, but less in the wild. 

Stubby had only a stub for a tail!

Stubby resting on a hot summer day...in the fork of the far right trunk.

Eastern gray squirrels can breed twice a year and have about 1-4 babies in a litter. I imagine some of our current squirrels are descendants of Stubby, only with tails!

gathering some sunflowers...eastern gray can descend trees (and sunflowers) head first

they love to eat and store acorns from our pin oak trees...they like to scatter and hoard

What else do they like to eat?  tree bark, tree buds, berries (we have mulberries), seeds (we grow sunflowers) garden tomatoes, corn 

The eastern gray likes to build their nests in the forks of trees. They build it mainly out of dry leaves and twigs. These nests are known as dreys. We have a wooded area around the front of our house; this is ideal for the gray squirrels to make a tree den from the trunk of the trees. One place I never want to see a squirrel home is in our attic!

Along with the squirrels, we have hawks (as noted in an earlier post) which are one of several squirrel predators: humans, weasels, raccoon, foxes, cats, snakes, owls, and dogs.

This winter our yard has been very active with squirrels, birds, deer and other critters. Soon the bees, butterflies, and other small creatures will add to our backyard enjoyment!!
  

Juliet