Friday, January 5, 2018

Observing Our Grey Squirrels

I've decided that I need to get over my anthropomorphic disdain of Grey Squirrels and enjoy observing them now that I've got them visiting our bird feeders every day.  It's a big shift in attitude for me, but I might as well make the best of it.

The Eastern Grey Squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis, is a cute, agile, bold little creature (oops, there I go being anthropomorphic again).  After a blog reader pointed out that they do not hibernate over the winter I started reading about them, a first step toward getting over my negative bias.  They are remarkable animals in many ways.

I commonly see two of them, but not often posing together for a photo.  But any animals that keep coming out to eat in the frigid temperatures we've been enjoying have to be well adapted survivors!  A lot of other animals do just escape winter by hibernating.

The Eastern Grey Squirrel is native to eastern North America, so it does belong here.  I think a large part of my bias against it comes from reading about how it has largely displaced the smaller European Red Squirrel after being introduced in England over 100 years ago.  It's considered a serious invasive species there, as well as in British Columbia following introduction there.

I included this photo because it's one of my only photos that shows the tiny sharp claws on the front feet.  The Grey Squirrel lives a largely arboreal life, travelling up and down and through trees, making remarkable jumps with agility.  It can turn its back feet around to hold on with those claws, which make it one of the only animals that can go down a tree headfirst.

They can live in hollow trees or in large leaf nests known as 'dreys'.  I suspect this is the home of my two Grey Squirrels, a large nest in a neighbouring ash tree.  It will be lined with finer plant material inside to provide a secure home.

As it is, the squirrel feeds on the ground beneath the bird feeders, but dashes for the nearest tree trunk at signs of danger.  That's a garden sculpture it's hiding behind.

Then it comes back to the ground, but looks around before leaping the 4 feet to the sunflower seed.  If I'm going to really observe these animals, I'm going to have to change my style.  Usually I just notice the birds or squirrels out the window, and stop to take a few pictures.  But I think I'm going to have to actually sit and observe to learn much.  I haven't yet seen them travel between that big drey next door and our bird feeders for example.  And I wish I could find a way to tell the two squirrels apart.

But today it did something unexpected, it ran the longer way across the snow and up into a different tree, then disappeared to the east.  Those white lines across the squirrel are snow blowing horizontally through the yard.  By the way, the black squirrels we often see, especially in urban populations, are simply a colour phase of the Eastern Grey Squirrel, not a separate species.

I think it could be fun to watch these well-adapted animals; maybe I`ll learn something.  It reminds me of a 2nd year Zoology course I took at university.  The professor and his graduate students had banded squirrels in forested areas on the edge of campus with coloured leg bands, so you could tell individual squirrels apart.  We had to go squirrel-watching and write a report.  I enjoyed that assignment (anything to get out of the classroom).  So here in our backyard I`ll repeat my squirrel observing, some nearly 50 years later!

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24 comments:

  1. They do look very sweet in your pics!

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  2. Enjoy your squirrel watching, as annoying and frustrating as we sometimes find them, they're fascinating animals.

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  3. It should be an interesting way to spend the winter, FG..

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  4. I would be happy if they were coming here...we have the red squirrels, we call them fox squirrels. People complain of them at their birdfeeders, but I always throw stuff on the ground for them.

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  5. Horizontal snow and a lesson in squirrels , I love their faces, bushy tails, and thick fur, Then the leap, they are so sure of landing where they want to. Or hanging on for dear life. More snow,I love it.

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  6. Re the squirrel on my blog...yes, she was a fox squirrel. She would come and look in my back storm door....bump my heels as I took food to put on a fence post or the picnic table...she eventually got till if I sat down and put food on my leg, she would sit on my leg to eat. But never did get till she would let me pet her.

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  7. We have stacks of grey squirrels in north London of course and most people will tell you they don't like squirrels. Rats with tails they say. But there's no denying they are a very successful animal and cute with it. I have been lucky enough to see red squirrels in Scotland. They are smaller than greys and seem a lot more wary of humans. A couple of summers ago we had a black squirrel in the garden in Switzerland. It was super cute and very difficult to photograph scurrying about all over far too fast for my lens to focus. Again the black is simply a variant of the usual European red.

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  8. I am not a fan of squirrels, really, but they are very adaptable creatures. I watch them scurry around to their nests in the fall taking nuts and seeds for the winter. Once I watched three of them having wild sex in a tree! I could never figure out which ones were male or female, either. Your squirrels look well fed.

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  9. It looks like one has a bit of brown or red behind the armpit.

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  10. Okay, anthro....what? I get what you mean though. LOL ha ha
    Nice way to spend the time though in the winter, watching the squirrels. enjoy getting over that disdain. :)

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  11. awwww, i think you are falling in love!!

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  12. I really enjoyed watching our squirrels, but couldn't afford to feed them, and they did get in the house, so we had to replace the screen barriers, and they moved away.

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  13. Hello, it is nice you have developed a fondness for the squirrels. I wish I could send you some of my squirrels. They eat too much, just a warning. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

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  14. We get mostly the Douglas Squirrel or Chickeree----cute little guys. We seldom see a Squirrel though. Curious because we are surrounded by conifer forest but they do join the party at the bird feeders. Enjoy them they are funny critters.
    MB

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  15. They do look like such cute little creatures but I bet they are quite different if you try to pick them up?

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  16. They sure are fun to watch. We have some grey squirrels but a lot of those little red ones too.

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  17. I love squirrels...it's great that you're developing an appreciation for them. There are lots of them in the forest where I live, so I always make sure to put out enough food for both the birds and the squirrels.

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  18. They make some good photo too!

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  19. Great squirrel photos!
    Hope you are having a wonderful week-end!

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  20. I haven't seen a squirrel or chipmunk since September or so. We have been visited by a mink or marten, but that hasn't been quite so cute. - Margy

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  21. I enjoy watching the squirrels in my backyard. They are so acrobatic!

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  22. Squirrels are funny characters. I did not realize they are the only animals that go down a tree headfirst.

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