Eco-gardening is at its best in The Monday Garden
November 27 2005, Issue 187
It’s Thanksgiving and time to thank heavens for little squirrels, who are a welcome addition to the sub/urban community for their own sake, and for the sake of our majestic oaks.
To start at the beginning, squirrels are rodents. As such, they have busy little hands, keen twitching noses and ears; sharp little ever-growing teeth; and alert (if somewhat small) inquisitive minds. World wide, there are about 300 squirrel species but the distribution is uneven. North America only has about 10 kinds, and Australia, sadly, zero.
Whatever the North American shortage in squirrel variety, Sciurus carolinensis, our gray squirrels, more than make up for the lack in both quantity and enthusiasm. Accordingly, in the U.S.A., squirrel watching is second only to bird-watching. Even if you’re lucky enough to be amused daily by squirrel antics, what do you actually know about these streetwise, dog-teasing, urban neighbors who can scale any height, break into any bird feeder, and who consider the overhead utility lines their private highways?
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ABOVE PICTURES: Acorn and trunk of a red oak at Scalzi Park, Stamford, CT, 2004-2005. The “ski tracks” pattern down the bark of the red oak is one of its hallmarks. The red oak’s acorns are generally not this red in color but the flat, pointed scales on the acorn cap are typical. White oaks have knobby caps. The little squirrel, born in January or February 2005, is eating silver maple seeds in May 2005 along Strawberry Hill Avenue in Stamford CT.
The Latin name for the squirrel clan ,“Sciurus”, is said to stand for “animal that sits in the shadow of its tail”. A squirrel’s tail, truly, is a thing of pride and beauty. It is also an eloquent communications device, a balancing pole for high-wire work, and a portable blanket-umbrella. Should a squirrel be required to swim, as in the storied migration of hundreds of squirrels across the Connecticut River in 1933, the squirrel’s all-purpose tail is also useful as a rudder.
PICTURE: A giant white oak, which the very-distant ancestors of these squirrels may have planted, in Columbus Park in downtown Stamford, CT, November 2005. This particular tree is also our downtown “meeting oak”; musical concerts are held here every summer with dozens of folding chairs set up under the tree’s huge shade canopy. The bark is typical of mature white oaks – craggy and deeply furrowed in a vertical pattern that gently curves but lacks a clear geometric design. Likewise, typical of oaks, the tree seems reluctant to let go of its leaves. The leaves are often held all winter, particularly by younger trees.
PICTURE: Squirrel "hiding" on trunk of this same oak. Feb 2006
PREFERRED HABITAT: I don’t know what it is like for a gray squirrel to grow up where gray squirrels want to live. Knowledgeable sources agree that a grey squirrel’s dream real estate is a vast, mature forest with plenty of oaks and walnuts, and NO humans, cars or roads. A dearth of the gray squirrel’s non-human predators—especially red-tailed hawks, but also wildcats, foxes, coyotes, owls, raccoons, possums, and snakes-- would be preferred, too, but unlikely.
MORTALITY: The squirrels that I know are all making it in the alley and the park, sometimes going through the garbage like the “street people” that they have become due to the destruction of their native habitat. Fortunately, squirrels are flexible enough to be considered a human-enhanced species (“enhanced” meaning that that they do better around us than without us).
However, the cost in squirrel lives to survive and thrive in the ‘burbs is horrible. While squirrels in captivity are reported to live up to 20 years, surveys show that, in the ‘burbs, 75% of all squirrels die in their first year, and that a squirrel is considered “old” at 6 years.
PICTURE: squirrel in the white oak leaves, Scalzi Park November 2005
EARLY CHILDHOOD: Our baby squirrel pictured above in May 2005 was conceived in January or February 2005 to parents who themselves might have only been born a year ago. (Since the baby was seen on Strawberry Hill, we’ll call her “Strawberry”, since that’s easier to say than “the aforesaid infant squirrel”.) Strawberry was born 6 weeks after conception, hairless and blind. Since Strawberry was a cold season birth, is it likely that she was born high above the ground in a snug tree hollow located by her mother. Strawberry most likely had 1 to 3 litter mates but could have had as many as seven. View larger image of Strawberry.
The observations of those humans fortunate enough to be caregivers for infant squirrels indicate that when Strawberry was born she could cry, wiggle and, enchantingly, yawn. Her mother would comfort her when she cried and from this, Strawberry, like a human baby, learned the power of vocalization. During her first 6 to 10 weeks, Strawberry nursed like all creatures born into the clan mammal. During this time, her eyes opened and she learned to groom herself and share grooming with her littler mates. She began developing the balance and coordination skills vital to someone born to be a high-wire artist.
By April or May, her mom encouraged her to leave the family nest since mom needed to get ready for the mid-summer litter. While Strawberry will not be considered fully grown until she is 9 months old (October or November), by late spring or early summer, Strawberry had learned enough to venture outside the nest and learn the ways of the squirrel.
DIET: From her mother, Strawberry had learned what squirrels eat in spring. Watching the other squirrels, and from her own experimenting, she learns for herself what is good to eat year ‘round and how to store food. Generally, in spring, the gray squirrels live on whatever buds, roots, bulbs, and flowers are available plus buried stores from the prior season. If last year’s harvest has run out, as pre-supermarket humans knew, spring can be a very, very hungry time. Red squirrels are said to be adept at tapping the twigs of sugar maples and similar trees for the nutritious, high-carb spring sap. There are mixed reports on whether gray squirrels have also widely perfected this art.
As the year progresses, there are grains, leaves, fruits, nuts, seeds, fungi, and berries. Young squirrels in particular are also said to add insects (high in protein, calcium, and the like, needed for strong, lean muscles and sharp, hard teeth) to their diet as well as bird eggs, and small critters. City squirrels will also eat most of what ends up in the public trash cans. I’ve seen them take off up a tree with a whole discarded lunch bag to be investigated at leisure. Sandwich scraps and French fries seem to rate. View squirrel picnic at Scalzi Park
Given their druthers, gray squirrels are most likely to be active just after sun rise and late afternoon. They try to avoid both mid-day heat in the summer and night-time predators year round. Females are said to be more active in summer, the males in winter. Particularly during acorn-gathering time, you can often glimpse an exhausted squirrel sprawled out in the sun on a branch catching a well-deserved noon-time nap.
Gray squirrels can be observed faking where they bury food in order to hide it from each other. However, they depend for winter and spring survival on communal food storage. Squirrels remember the general area where they buried things but find the exact spot with their super-noses. Since there are only so many places to bury stuff in the sub/urban environment (e.g. in my friend Marc’s window box), a canny squirrel can usually find something that she or someone else stashed, until last season’s crop is depleted or abandoned in favor of new food.
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PICTURES: Squirrels about town doing their bit for the preservation of oak trees. downtown Stamford, CT, November 2005
SOCIETY: Expert observers believe that gray squirrels generally live on their own but are tolerant of other squirrels and share territory in loosely-associated clans or colonies. Sidewalk squirrel watchers, though, observe that gray squirrels often hang out in pairs or threesomes, thought by the observers to be a female with one or two mates, or perhaps a mate and grown child. However, it is very difficult for human observers to accurately tell squirrel gender or age from a distance. (Squirrels usually use scent to make such distinctions).
Squirrels communicate by calls and by body language which includes dramatic tail waving and flouncing. The squirrel talk that you’re most likely to hear is “chit-chit-chit-chit” accompanied by an erect quivering tail which means “you go away, now”. The squirrel may be talking another squirrel or crossing species lines to tell the neighborhood cat or you, if you’re perceived as a threat, to get lost. Squirrels also communicate with each other (but not you, since humans are nose-challenged) by scent markings. Squirrels don’t have special scent glands like cats but each individual squirrel’s sweat, given off through foot pads and the like, has a unique smell, at least to other squirrels.
Squirrels are tolerant of known colony members but do have an hierarchy and do quarrel over the important things like mates, food, and territory. Colony members are known to band together to defend territory and to drive off new squirrels, if there isn’t enough food to go around.
HOUSING: To survive, the experts say that a grey squirrel needs least one safe, water-proof, wind-resistant winter home, preferably in a tree cavity, or if none are available, a human structure. A gray squirrel also constructs a summer home made of twigs with the green leaves attached. The leaves curl as they dry, creating a snug, water-resistant nest. (Sidewalk observation shows local squirrels visiting their leaf homes in mid-winter. Do these squirrels lack proper winter homes or are they using the summer house for food storage?)
Gray squirrels, like most North American mammals, have learned the importance of constructing and maintaining at least one, if not two, back-up homes for each season so they won’t get caught out in the potentially-fatal cold or wet if the main seasonal nest is destroyed or invaded. It’s much better to build the second house in good weather with a full belly, than while starving in the middle of the storm, or while running from a red hawk.
Gray squirrels are said to live alone most of the year (even though we sidewalk observers often see more than one squirrel involved in nest making), but related squirrels are known to room together for warmth in winter.
PICTURE: Urban squirrels doing what urban squirrels do, here scaling the fence of a parking garage along Hoyt Street Alley, Stamford CT 2004
STRAWBERRY’S FIRST YEAR: Like most wild mammals that don’t live in closely-knit herds or packs, once Strawberry leaves the nest, she has until fall to make a life for herself or die. She has to find a location where she can construct her summer and winter shelters, find food with relative ease year-round, and be reasonably safe from predators. She also had to find enough to eat to put on a layer of pre-winter fat and store enough food to see her through her first winter.
Most importantly, as there is little vacant real estate in the ‘burbs, she has to get the existing squirrel and non-squirrel population in the area to accept her. The other squirrels and non-squirrel niche-competitors will not do this is there isn’t enough food or good nesting spots to go around. In addition, some neighbors, generally human, are just plain selfish, mean and/or ignorant, and will not tolerate small critters on “their” land even if there is enough for all.
It is critical that Strawberry learn her territory so she doesn’t use too much energy finding food, and that she knows the local dangers and the means to avoid them. A single mistake during the learning process can result in Strawberry being lunch for a red-tailed hawk or squished under a car. Poor fortune in choice of habitat will leave her too weak to fend off disease and parasites and to survive the rigors of winter.
When I met Strawberry in May she was half grown and big enough to be out on her own, even though she was still too young to know she was supposed to run away from people, even when there were delicious, fresh silver maple seeds and she was sooo hungry … If Strawberry survived her childhood, she would have been full grown this past September, at which point she would weigh one to one and a half pounds, if fully nourished, and measure 16 to 21 inches (with tail).
She needs to eat about 2 pounds of food a week. If she can’t find it, due to overpopulation or because a humans’ mall now sits where her birth oak trees stood, she has to move on, even though there is no guarantee that she’ll find a good place early enough to be ready for winter.
STRAWBERRY’S LIFE: If Strawberry survives the winter of 2005-2006, she’ll be the proud owner of an established life. If she’s allowed to live out her life, she’ll bear children for up to 6 years, and may live up to 8 years.
In many ways, her life-support system is no different from yours. She has a house, a means of making a living, and a place in her neighborhood/community. Just like you, if she is suddenly deprived of these assets, she’s a homeless refugee and the odds will go back to at least 75% against her living the next few months. Particularly if she becomes a refugee while pregnant or late in the season, the odds are high that she'll starve to death, alone and frightened.
Strawberry may be driven out of her home by natural causes such as an acorn shortage, drought or an increase in the local red hawk population. In such a case, she will pick the time and method for relocation that is most advantageous to her survival. But only too frequently, Strawberry and her kin are victims of forced “trap and remote release” by humans. It may make the human feel better to trap the unwanted squirrel, raccoon, woodchuck or whatever and let it go somewhere else, than to kill the animal out of hand. However, trap and remote re-release is so cruel that it is outlawed in many states. If you’re going to kill an animal, do it quickly and humanely.
It would be more humane, however, to not let your local squirrel become a problem in the first place. The web is crammed full of advice on how to live with the wild ones and why we need to do it. See,e.g, Ontario SPCA
The slaughter of innocent beings (e.g. because they are inconvenient or not aesthetically pleasing) rebounds on those who do it. What goes around comes around; every time, no exceptions.
PICTURE: squirrel resting at noon time in one of the giant oaks at Scalzi Park. November 2005
SQUIRRELS IN THE ‘BURBS: It’s good to share with the squirrels and other critters in “your” yard. It was their habitat before your house got built on it and so much land is now "developed” that the critters have to live in our yards, even though they’d rather the deep woods. Those woods critters that aren’t adapting to life in the ‘burbs are dying out.
What you may have learned years ago about not feeding the critters, so they won’t “become dependent” is outdated. In the age of the mall, without your help, the critters will die, through the fault of humans collectively.
The human help that the critters need is water, natural food sources, and shelter. Water can come from a bird bath or very slowly dripping faucet. Natural food sources are your yard plants and trees that provide forage -- buds, flowers, roots, seeds, berries, nuts and the like (and don’t forget the rabbits’ clover). Supplemental food, such as a bird feeder is good, but natural foraging sources are even better if planned to provide year-round fodder.
Secure shelter means that the fox's burrow under the back porch and the squirrel’s nest in the tree are respected as their private property to the extent possible, and, if adjustment need be made, the adjustments are made at a time of year and in a way that disrupted the critter’s life is little as possible.
Part of the human responsibility is to keep the wild critters out of places where they don’t belong. The exterior of human structures needs to be examined regularly and any holes plugged before the bats are in the belfry. Whatever you do, don’t drive out an adult that may have babies. Squirrels, for example, will tear you house apart with their teeth and nails to rescue their left-behind children from starvation. (Would you do less?).
PICTURE: squirrel on Strawberry Hill Ave roof top, winter 2004-2005. Stamford CT.
SQUIRRELS AND OAKS: So thank heavens for little squirrels. Now back to our majestic oaks. While gray squirrel populations around here rise and fall with the acorn crop, it turns out that oaks need squirrels more than squirrels need oaks. Our wonderful oaks have a serious reproduction problem in that the acorn doesn’t fall from the tree. So, absent baby squirrels, how many oaks trees would we have? Not many, according to the scientists.
Out there planting oaks are the Parks Department, the city workers who plant the street trees, and some land owners, but you have to admit that the squirrels work hard at their part without increasing the town tax burden.
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PICTURES: pointed leaf of a “red family” oak; the top acorn is “red family”; the bottom acorn is “white family”; lastly a “white family” oak leaf with its characteristic rounded tips.
Indeed, Dr John Gurnell, web master of squirrelweb, who is well known in squirrel circles in North America and Europe, is reported to have said that squirrels (with help from the jays) may have single-handedly replanted the oak forests after the last Ice Age and that, even today, the gray squirrel in particular, has a major impact on the location and composition of our oak forests.
PICTURE: the smaller of two squirrels (the female?) who hang around a stand of white pines in Hoyt Street Alley, watching me take photos. Stamford Ct 2004 View close up
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PICTURES: Squirrels on Vernon Place in the January 2006 sun. The first takes a noon-time rest in a Japanese maple. The second sits on her porch, in front of her winter home, that is every squirrel's dream: a cozy trunk hollow, high in a mature red maple.
Photo credits: Sue Sweeney
© Sue Sweeney 2005, 2006