I write often about squirrels so when I decided not to write about them for awhile, of course they emerge in every corner of my life. Yesterday was squirrel day at my home. It appeared that all of the neighborhood squirrels had converged in my back yard to clean out the feeders that had been refilled that morning.
It was an active scene with plenty of chases, skirmishes and chattering. What really caught my attention was the number of very young squirrels. By their size they were likely summer babies born in August and now around 7-8 weeks in age. Their fur and tails are fully developed just like the adults but they still possess that baby tummy that first appears when they are 4-5 weeks old. Four of them descended upon the bird feeders close to the house. Only one, the grey squirrel had figured out how to jump onto the large feeder to feast on the bonanza of sunflower seeds. The other three stayed on the ground, benefiting from the scattering of uneaten seeds by the grey baby.
Seeing them reminded me of my first litter of squirrels that I wintered over due to their age. [See September 12, 2012 post] Unlike my little guys, these babies knew their way around the neighborhood, where to find food and how to defend themselves from the older adults. I have to assume they have learned how to build their winter nests although I have seen no nest building by any of the squirrels to date. With the colder nights and the dropping of the leaves, I should be seeing activity in my pine trees in the next week.
I decided last night to pull out my Woodworking for Wildlife book to find the plans for squirrel nest boxes. Most of the plans only require one piece of ¾ inch lumber or plywood and are easy to assemble. I think I will build a couple of them over the weekend to hang up in the back yard. Maybe one of my new babies will decide to make the box its home for the winter.
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