Squirrel School

By Lois Bower • Illustrated by Stephanie Roth

A mother gray squirrel has taken over a nest house that was built for birds. It is nailed high in a cottonwood tree in my backyard in Colorado. She argued with the woodpeckers for three years before the house became hers.

Each spring when I notice the mother’s swollen milk glands, I know she has a new litter of babies. I once peeked inside to see five little ones. They were pink and hairless. Their eyes were sealed shut. The newborn babies can’t do anything for themselves for about eight weeks. Later they grow brownish-gray hair before leaving the nest.

Gray squirrels collect lots of food for winter.

When Mother Squirrel’s babies are old enough to climb out of the house, she lets them sunbathe on the roof. But if one tries to climb a branch, her chattering sends it back into the house. She challenges any creature that threatens her children by swishing her tail back and forth.

Climbing lessons soon begin. The squirrels have sharp claws and flexible bodies to help them grasp branches. Mother does not allow them to climb to the ground.

Once they know how to climb, leaping lessons begin. The gray squirrel’s broad, bushy tail is about as long as its body. It can serve as a parachute, slowing the squirrel’s fall.

Soon Mother Squirrel allows her young to visit the ground, but no farther than a foot from the tree. She watches carefully for cats and hawks and will send the babies back up the tree with a loud chattering if she senses danger.

Young squirrels do not travel far from home.

A few days later Mother will take the babies one by one to my bird feeder, which hangs from a branch of a pine tree. Sometimes one will start to jump four or five times before actually leaping from the branch to the feeder. Learning to leap without spilling seeds from the feeder takes skill, but it is worth it to get the treat.

My yard is an animal supermarket. Berries grow in the garden, and corn and sunflower seeds ripen in the fall. By late summer the squirrels have begun storing a winter food supply. Sometimes I put a dry ear of corn on a stake. They take one kernel at a time into their mouths, hop onto the ground, and bury it in the lawn or garden. They also bury walnuts, peanuts, and sunflower seeds.

The squirrels rely on a strong sense of smell to find the food in winter. The next spring I can tell what wasn’t eaten: Corn begins to grow, and I rake up nuts when I clean up piles of dried leaves.

The squirrels spend the winter in the birdhouse. During Rocky Mountain blizzards, they will bring food into the nest and spend long periods inside.

In late winter or early spring, Mother Squirrel helps her young prepare their own homes. Then she returns to her house and cleans up her nest. Now she is ready for a new litter of babies.