GRAY SQUIRRELS

      "Gray squirrel, gray squirrel, shake your bushy tail", goes the childrens' song.  And those squirrels do, as a communication to their relatives.  I enjoy seeing the antics of gray squirrels in our suburban neighborhood in southeastern Pennsylvania, and wherever they may be.  

     Gray squirrels are common in the eastern United States; in maturing woods, successional woods, older suburbs with many planted trees, and in farmland with hedgerows and woodland edges.  They are adaptable and intelligent, and interesting to watch.  Many of these squirrels find ways of getting at seeds in so-called squirrel-proof bird feeders.  They all have "highways in the trees" they travel along.  At home, I daily see a gray squirrel running along a decorative fence in a neighbor's yard to get grain at a bird feeder.  Every day, that squirrel is vulnerable to house cats, red-tailed hawks and Cooper's hawks.  And I have watched grays exploring something new on a lawn, or elsewhere.  I saw one gray sniffing at newly-planted grass seed, and patting it with a front paw.     

     Gray squirrels living in successional woods with trees too small to have cavities build bulky nests of dead leaves in the tree tops.  We can easily see those squirrel homes when the trees' leaves have dropped in autumn.  However, grays living among large trees will shelter in tree hollows caused by woodpeckers, and wind tearing limbs off trees, leaving the wood to decay.  Some grays even usurp nesting boxes erected for screech owls/American kestrels and wood ducks to hatch young in.  But wherever they call home, gray squirrels curl into a ball with their ample, bushy tails wrapped around them for extra warmth.  There they are warm and safe every night through the year.   

     Female gray squirrels give birth to about four young, twice a year.  Their breeding season starts in mid-January for their first brood that leaves their nursery in the middle of April.  The second litter is born in June.  

     Gray squirrels are active the year around, but I think they are most noticeable in fall when they are busily gathering and storing nuts and acorns for winter use.  We see many of these tree rodents in oak, hickory and beech trees, and on the ground, harvesting food for the winter.  They stash that winter food in tree cavities and bury it in the soil.  Squirrels are the only mammals with jaws strong enough and teeth sharp enough to gnaw through the husks of nuts to eat the meat inside.  These squirrels also come daily to bird feeders to consume grain.  

     Some squirrels are caught and eaten by red-tailed hawks, Cooper's hawks, great horned owls, mink, house cats, foxes, coyotes and other kinds of predators.  I've seen grays being caught by red-tails and horned owls, and I've seen a mink and a house cat running along with a squirrel in their mouths.  But in spite of all those predators, gray squirrels are still numerous almost anywhere trees exist.

     Gray squirrels are prolific breeders, intelligent and adaptable, and, therefore, abundant almost wherever trees grow.  They are interesting, little critters whose antics are fun to observe.   

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