Little Red appreciates the new Blue Jay feeder too. Every afternoon, once the main crush of Blue Jays has moved on, this little red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) arrives to enjoy his share of the treats. He can reach the feeder very conveniently by dropping from a nearby branch and scrambles back home the same way. In the photo above, he (she?) is keeping a wary eye on me as I stand at my kitchen window.
We don’t have the larger grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) that were more than abundant at our former Toronto-area home here, and I don’t miss them one bit. Little Red is a cute little guy though, and it is nice to see him. These smaller squirrels don’t seem to gather together in large numbers in the manner of their outsized kin. Red squirrels prefer coniferous forests, with their abundant supply of cones, but are adaptable and widespread.
It’s common to hear a red squirrel expressing his annoyance at an intruder with angry chattering. They’re feisty individuals, and will chase away much larger interlopers, but I’ve noticed Little Red avoids the Blue Jay hoards. While grey squirrels stick to nuts and seeds, red squirrels have a more varied diet, and enjoy a range of food items that includes insects, bird eggs and even young rabbits and frogs, and fruits and mushrooms. Probably other small creatures don’t find Little Red as cute as I do! In the fall, red squirrels cache food to help them make it through the winter. In conifer forests, you may find piles of cones assembled by a red squirrel. I found this cache, in the photo above, in a forest with many Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris). Red squirrels don’t hibernate, but during severe weather, they may go into a state of torpor for an extended period.
During breeding season, red squirrels build large, grassy nests formed into round balls in the branches of trees. In winter, however, a more secure home is need, and a cavity in a tree offers a snug, dry spot to spend the night. When moving firewood we had purchased recently, I came across a split log with stuffing hanging out. I carefully removed the stuffing and found a cavity of about 3 inches in depth behind the opening. It probably served as the winter home of a red squirrel. The stuffing was soft and clean and grassy. It looked like a comfortable winter hideout. Hopefully, the squirrel had moved on to a summer nest before the tree was cut down for firewood.
Willow House Chronicles 
No grey squirrels? And, here I thought they were everywhere. That little red squirrel is just as cute as can be. I had a pair at my feeder a couple of years ago, but, they must have moved on.
The really fascinating thing about this entry was that nest, however. What a wonderful thing to find. I hope that whoever built it has a lovely, cozy winter.
I love red squirrels around the property. Where i lived some years ago some of them were coming to the window to beg for food. I would hand them some toasts and jam in the morning and handfuls of sunflower seeds later in the day.
Interesting post. Thank you for sharing.
Ahhh, he/she’s cute! We have the cute red squirrels, but I don’t have anything against the billions of grey squirrels – I think I would miss them.
I can relate to the red squirrels in that I, too, during the worst winter weather, enter into a state of torpor, being “A state of mental or physical inactivity; lethargy; apathy.”
Louise, Yes, no grey squirrels is a real plus to living out here, after having up to 2 dozen at a time chewing on my feeders, chasing the birds off the driveway seed patch, gnawing their way into the attic… They just wanted to be way too friendly.
It was a nice find, the little cozy den. I could well imagine Little Red, snug as a bug, out of the winter weather.
Hi Francis, Thanks for visiting. Toast and jam, those squirrels were living well!
Deb, if only you had a little cozy den where no one would bother you while you were torporing!
I’m glad to hear there are still some red squirrels in Ontario — we certainly didn’t see any in Toronto. There are a lot more reds than grey/black squirrels living here in NB, and I personally think they are more charming and less greedy than their bigger kin.
Yes, eyegillian, definitely cuter. Although, if you are another animal, the red squirrels are more aggressive.
[…] we had in the log pile earlier this winter, Dan has also found my carpenter ant tunnels, and my mom recently discovered a Red Squirrel nest. And then the other day, while collecting an armful of logs for the fire, I […]