Do You Appreciate Squirrels?

Last Saturday, Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve celebrated National Squirrel Appreciation Day. Our friend Brigette Williams, of Second Chances Wildlife Center, came to share some of her squirrely friends.

The tree squirrel is a very special animal. It is one of very few wild animals that have adapted to humans and learned to coexist with man. It can live on both natural foods and handouts. The squirrel is an acrobatic wonder to young and old. Its large tail makes it the most recognized mammal on Earth. It amazes us with daring high wire acts, as it races through the tree branches. Its determination to find a way to get seeds from a so called "squirrel proof" bird feeder is a delight to watch. The average Gray squirrel is fifteen inches long and weighs about one pound. Its diet consists of nuts, seeds and fruit. They will eat scrapes from the trash including bread, meat and even snack food. The life span of the squirrel is approximately six years. Most urban squirrels do not reach their first birthday, not due to predators, but rather to automobiles, compared to its rural counterpart, which often perishes from the lack of food.

Squirrels are the most active in late winter, when the mating season begins. The males will chase a females, as well as, chase off other suitors. This ritual of chasing, occurs through the trees at top speed. While they perform some of the most breathtaking acrobatics imaginable. During winter storms, or severe cold, the squirrel may not leave the nest for days. But, the tree squirrel does not hibernate! When a squirrel senses danger, its first instinct is to stand motionless. If on the ground it will race to the closest tree, or other climbable object to escape. If it is in a tree, it will circle the trunk with its body pressed tightly to the bark.

Although we are all familiar with the gray squirrel that lives in our yards, few of us have ever seen the flying squirrel which is actually nocturnal and are the smallest of all squirrels.They will eat insects, mast (nuts), fungi and mushrooms (esp. truffles), carrion, buds, flowers, bird eggs and nestlings, seeds, berries, fruit, insects, slugs and snails, bark, young mice, tree sap, carrion (esp. in winter). Sometimes they may cache food for winter use.

Flying squirrels are found in coniferous and mixed forests (especially those that produce mast like maple, beech, hickory, oak and poplar), with good tree cover. They may avoid areas where wood has been recently harvested. Sometimes they may den in houses or barns rather than a tree cavity. The Young born without fur, eyes and ears closed, with fused toes and a cylindrical tail. Ears will open at 2-6 days, by 6 days toes are separated, and fur starts to grow in by 7 days, but their eyes won't open until 24-30 days old.

Flying squirrels don't really fly, like a bat. They steer by adjusting the tautness of the patagium (furry membrane), and use their tail as a stabilizer and to brake before landing. They can glide 80-150 feet. And since they fly at night, their worst enemies are owls.

Naturally yours,

~denapple

Darling Starling?

After a number of misguided attempts to introduce starlings to North America, perhaps 60-100 starlings were released into Central Park, in New York City, in 1890 and 1891, by an acclimatization society headed by Eugene Schieffelin. Their goal was to introduce all birds mentioned in Shakespeare's works. The entire North American population, now numbering more than 200,000,000, descended from these birds. By the late 1940s (see map), starlings had been seen in nearly all of the U.S. and Canadian provinces. Their population increased from 1966-1976, but seems to have stabilized since, perhaps due to limited nesting sites. Starlings are often found where ever there is food, nest sites and water - typically around cities and towns, and in agricultural areas. The only places they do not frequent are large expanses of woods, arid chaparral and deserts.

No one ever says the Starling is their favorite bird. After all, they are noisy, they poop all over your car, they eat most of the seeds in your birdfeeders, and they devour a farmer's crops. They will take over the nesting boxes you put out for native species and kill any babies in it, or they move cheerfully into holes in the siding of your house. In the winter they gather in huge flocks, and sometimes you have to wonder if they are just birds, or something else altogether. What should a large gathering of Starlings be called?  A flock, a horde, a blob, a swarm, a cloud? Murmuration is actually the term applied to large numbers of Starlings as they fly through the air like a swarm of insects.




Here are some things you never knew before about Starlings:

Both males and females can mimic human speech. (Some people keep starlings as pets). Some starlings also imitate the song of many other birds like the Eastern Wood-Pewee, Meadowlark, Northern Bobwhite and House Sparrow, along with Blue Jays, Red-Tailed Hawks and Cedar Waxwings. Vocalizations inside the nestbox during nest building can be lengthy and quite varied.

An estimated 1/3 to 1/2 of returning females nest in the same box or area in consecutive years. That is why it's even more important not to let them nest in the first place.

A starling couple can build a nest in 1-3 days. Both sexes incubate.

A migrating flock can number 100,000 birds. They roost communally in flocks that may contain as many as a million birds.

Each year, starlings cause an estimated $800 million in damages to agricultural crops

About 15-33% of first broods are parasitized (via egg dumping) by other starlings.

Starlings have an unusual bill that springs open to grip prey or pry plants apart.

Starlings only molt once a year (after breeding) but the spots that show up in the winter wear off by the spring, making them look glossy black.

In Starlings, the length of the intestinal tract actually varies depending on the season. It is shorter in the summertime (when birds are mainly eating protein-rich) insect foods and larger in wintertime when they are mainly eating seeds, which are rich in carbohydrates.

Naturally yours,

~denapple