The Daily Bucket is a place where we can post and exchange our observations about the natural happenings in our neighborhoods. Birds, bugs, blossoms and more - each notation is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the natural patterns that are unwinding around us.
Eastern Grey Squirrel
Squirrels. We got 'em. If you live anywhere in the world but Australia, you probably have them, too. For those of us who enjoy being outside, squirrels are a source of amusement and sometimes annoyance.
Tuesday evening Jim and I had dinner on our deck. It's a screened porch that backs up to just a few feet from the trees behind the house. An unusual evening in a way, we were able to enjoy our meal without the drone of mowers anywhere in the neighborhood. We had that in the middle of summer, too, deep in the drought when the grass wasn't growing. But then it was too warm to enjoy being out for long.
From our deck we can see the birds flying in to the feeders. There are only three, usually, plus a suet feeder in the winter. One feeder is for the hummingbirds in season, one is a small tube feeder that the chickadees and finches use, and one is a larger tube. Jim is in charge of filling the feeders, and he keeps the large tube well stocked with sunflower seed.
Almost all of the birds enjoy that feeder, with the nuthatches swooping in so fast, taking one seed and darting away. Flickers, downy and hairy woodpeckers, and red-bellied woodpeckers all stay longer, taking their time eating before taking off again. Chickadees, titmouses, house finches, blue jays, all take their turns. We get quite the show from our deck.
And oh my the squirrels would love to feed from it, too.
But that feeder is a Yankee Flipper, made by the Droll Yankees company. (I'm not associated with the company in any way, but we have found their "squirrel-proof" feeder effective and their customer service helpful.) Watch what happens to this squirrel as it tries to access seed from a Yankee Flipper.
We've had our feeder for several years, and for the most part, the squirrels don't bother it anymore. Old Uncle Fred must have taught the young 'uns what happened when he tried it once.
Instead they glean the seeds from the ground below, the bits and pieces missed or dropped by the birds.
Around us we mostly have Eastern Grey Squirrels, as shown above. Some neighborhoods in our community and in the Quad Cities have black squirrels the same size. They are a subgroup of the grey squirrels. According to wikipedia:
As a melanistic variety of the Eastern Grey Squirrel, individual black squirrels can exist wherever grey squirrels live. Grey mating pairs can not produce black offspring. ... In areas with high concentrations of black squirrels, mixed litters are common.[1] The black subgroup seems to have been dominant throughout North America prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, since their dark colour helped them hide in virgin forests which tended to be very dense and shaded. As time passed, hunting and deforestation led to biological advantages for grey coloured individuals.[2] Today, the black subgroup is particularly abundant in the northern part of the Eastern Grey Squirrel's range.[3][4] This is likely due to the significantly increased cold tolerance of black squirrels which lose less heat than greys.[5] Black squirrels also enjoy concealment advantages in denser northern forests.[1]
In central Illinois where I grew up, these reddish squirrels, known as fox squirrels, were more typical. There are some here, but the grey squirrels dominate for numbers. According to
wikipedia, it "is the largest species of tree squirrel native to North America." They are long, with a body length of up to 27 inches and tail another 13 inches. Even so, they are light, weighing in at barely more than two pounds.
In residential neighborhoods in the U.S., there are few predators for any of these squirrels. Jim and I watched a Cooper's hawk in our back yard one day, swoop in noiselessly, land on top of a grey squirrel, secure it in its talons, and lift off. Great horned owls, barred owls, and dogs pose a threat. Raccoons, oppossums, and the occasional backyard coyote will tangle with them, too. We're mostly likely to hear calls of alarm when a neighborhood cat is nearby.
Squirrels are known for being clever. Many of you have seen this video from several years ago. The squirrels were given progressively more difficult obstacle courses to navigate to gain their reward. As a bonus you can see what happens when squirrel meets vending machine.
Everyone has a story or more about squirrels in their lives. Check this August 2012 Daily Bucket from burnt out. Also here is a funny, weird, terrifying story from Noddy (with a language warning for very tender ears.)
And for more information about squirrels, see this amazing site by squirrels.org.
What's your funny, weird, or terrifying story about squirrels in your life? Or tell us about other interesting stuff going on in your neighborhood.