Nature Study:Squirrels

For the next 12 weeks, we are going to focus our nature studies on mammals. We don't own any pets, so we had to look in our backyard...literally. What we do have is a pesky little squirrel who likes to steal into my shed and take my wild bird feed and then eat my bird feeder in order to get at the seeds. ( I have read that squirrel stew was a tasty meal at one time...hmmm).



Instead of chasing our annoying pest away, we have decided to adopt it and observe him... much to our amusement. Using the Handbook of Nature Study as our guide, we are going to find out about this little guy who has been nicknamed "Squirrly Squirrel Johny Applenut" This name a concoction by kids who cannot see eye to eye on one single name.



Lesson one: a.What kind of squirrel is he? b.What does he eat (besides my bird seed and feed box)?

( The picture quality is terrible, due in part to the fact that FFJA- nickname, is an onorey little bugger and won't let me go outdoors to picture him- I have to capture him from indoors, thus the bad photo quality)

We filled 3 trays with food. Laura put in Nuts- in shells such as almonds, pecans, filberts; raisins, seeds. Audrey put in seeds and nuts, Timmy put in seeds, shelled nuts and peanuts. The trays were put in in various places around the yard including the tree.

We discovered he liked everything we gave him except the almonds (in shell). He ate the food from the basket in the tree primarily, and on the third day, when he got braver, he began to sneak the food left on the concrete patio- peanuts were the first to be eaten.

According to our handbook, he seems to be either an Eastern gray squirrel (although he is yellow in color) or a Fox squirrel. I need to read up some more to know for sure.