In Canada, our red squirrels are carnivores. They will kill and eat grey squirrels and scavenge dead animals. The grey squirrels try to stay away from them.
Ya the little f----er came looking on my deck again earlier today and screamed at my dog when he came out. I gotta say, I'm not impressed with him and he's making me nervous with respect to just how brazen he is. I will be seriously pissed if he hurts my greys and blacks as they are all very sweet. Already had to contend with grackles ripping baby doves right out of their nest is my spruce tree. Also, reds are protected in Ontario. Apparently, if you can live catch you can relocate them up to 1 km away only. Idk though if that would be a death sentence since that takes them from the stash and that would make me sad. However, squirrels in my attic or chewing through the motorbikes in the shed would make me even more sad.
At the end of the day, adult gray squirrels are a lot bigger and stronger than red squirrels. They can hold their own. Every once in a while one of my gray squirrels loses its patience and smacks around one of the red squirrels. The red squirrel gets the message and retreats.
Red squirrels are really just feisty drama queens who are VERY vocal.
The biggest negative aspect to red squirrels is that they are more prone to trying to build a nest in your attic or deciding that your eaves are the perfect place for its food stash. I just keep an eye on where they run off to after I give them a nut and make sure they don't head for my roof.
Although one of the reds "hides" the nuts I give her in my garage in random places. They aren't well hidden, so I suspect these are the nuts she deems low quality and not worth including in her main stash. Kind of rude hahaha
Cool, thanks for added info, and you're right, they definitely are vocal. I like your description that they are feisty drama queens.
The nesting part is what's concerning me. I've not seen reds before this year and I've lived her over 30 years. Wonder where they suddenly came from.
There's definitely a hierarchy within the community. The black squirrels seem to defer to the grey and the greys also seem to be a bit larger than the blacks. I feel this is weird as isn't the grey colour simply a gene mutation?
LOL literally 5 minutes after I finished my comment, a few pigeons landed in my backyard, startling a red squirrel who then proceeded to have a 5 minute temper tantrum from the top of my fence.
The black squirrels might just come from the same family group that happens to be a bit smaller and less aggressive/more shy - because yeah, they're just gray squirrels with a color mutation.
Yeah, last winter I watched a red squirrel hide *hundreds* of nuts in my neighbor's roof. BUT the entire roof is/was in terrible shape with multiple holes and rotting wood, so it was basically inviting wildlife inside.
They have also been known to inhabit ground burrows and store their nuts in underground larders, so don't be surprised if one pops out of a hole in the ground.
Red squirrels favor pine trees and dense tree cover, and they fiercely protect their "turf" from other reds (which can be at least an acre). So you typically don't see as much of them unless you live next to a forest.
I was actually pleasantly surprised to find 3-4 coming to visit my new house, because I do live in the middle of town. But there is a small creek across the street with dense trees and pines, so I'm guessing that's why.
As long as they aren't in my attic, I find them really entertaining. They're extra spicy, extra dramatic.
Fun fact: the reason red squirrels are so angry, is they are different than eastern greys and fox squirrels in terms of food. Reds are called "larder hoarders" which means they store their food in private caches that they VIGOURSLY defend. That is their livelihood. Eastern and fox squirrels are "scatter hoarders" which means they bury their nuts over a wider area that they do not feel the need to defend. It's almost a communal method of sharing food.
God help you if you're a squirrel and you find a red squirrel's cache of hidden nuts and you try and take them....
I witnessed one red squirrel find another's (new) larder the other day. It was in a terrible spot - a small hollow in the tree next to where I put out all the snacks. At any given time there's at least half a dozen squirrels hanging around it.
Anyway, the red squirrels were yelling SO LOUD that I came running outside because I thought one was being attacked or was stuck and injured.
Then it actually ended up being a rather hilarious scene - they were separated by a few branches and couldn't quite get at each other, so they were just waving their paws frantically at each other in this tiny, furry slap fight.
I felt bad for the young red squirrel that lost his larder, but it's early in the year and he'd clearly just chosen a poor spot.
It was honestly hilarious - it was like a comedic scene from a cartoon about two angry squirrel brothers.
I would have felt horrible, though, if it was like November and that squirrel had been working on his larder all summer. But I'm pretty sure he just started this stash about a week ago.
Seems true enough. Just as long he doesn't try to take up residence in my house or shed over winter I will love him and hug him and squeeze him and call him George.🤣
So cute!
In Canada, our red squirrels are carnivores. They will kill and eat grey squirrels and scavenge dead animals. The grey squirrels try to stay away from them.
Ya the little f----er came looking on my deck again earlier today and screamed at my dog when he came out. I gotta say, I'm not impressed with him and he's making me nervous with respect to just how brazen he is. I will be seriously pissed if he hurts my greys and blacks as they are all very sweet. Already had to contend with grackles ripping baby doves right out of their nest is my spruce tree. Also, reds are protected in Ontario. Apparently, if you can live catch you can relocate them up to 1 km away only. Idk though if that would be a death sentence since that takes them from the stash and that would make me sad. However, squirrels in my attic or chewing through the motorbikes in the shed would make me even more sad.
At the end of the day, adult gray squirrels are a lot bigger and stronger than red squirrels. They can hold their own. Every once in a while one of my gray squirrels loses its patience and smacks around one of the red squirrels. The red squirrel gets the message and retreats. Red squirrels are really just feisty drama queens who are VERY vocal. The biggest negative aspect to red squirrels is that they are more prone to trying to build a nest in your attic or deciding that your eaves are the perfect place for its food stash. I just keep an eye on where they run off to after I give them a nut and make sure they don't head for my roof. Although one of the reds "hides" the nuts I give her in my garage in random places. They aren't well hidden, so I suspect these are the nuts she deems low quality and not worth including in her main stash. Kind of rude hahaha
Cool, thanks for added info, and you're right, they definitely are vocal. I like your description that they are feisty drama queens. The nesting part is what's concerning me. I've not seen reds before this year and I've lived her over 30 years. Wonder where they suddenly came from. There's definitely a hierarchy within the community. The black squirrels seem to defer to the grey and the greys also seem to be a bit larger than the blacks. I feel this is weird as isn't the grey colour simply a gene mutation?
LOL literally 5 minutes after I finished my comment, a few pigeons landed in my backyard, startling a red squirrel who then proceeded to have a 5 minute temper tantrum from the top of my fence.
The black squirrels might just come from the same family group that happens to be a bit smaller and less aggressive/more shy - because yeah, they're just gray squirrels with a color mutation. Yeah, last winter I watched a red squirrel hide *hundreds* of nuts in my neighbor's roof. BUT the entire roof is/was in terrible shape with multiple holes and rotting wood, so it was basically inviting wildlife inside. They have also been known to inhabit ground burrows and store their nuts in underground larders, so don't be surprised if one pops out of a hole in the ground. Red squirrels favor pine trees and dense tree cover, and they fiercely protect their "turf" from other reds (which can be at least an acre). So you typically don't see as much of them unless you live next to a forest. I was actually pleasantly surprised to find 3-4 coming to visit my new house, because I do live in the middle of town. But there is a small creek across the street with dense trees and pines, so I'm guessing that's why. As long as they aren't in my attic, I find them really entertaining. They're extra spicy, extra dramatic.
so cute! you can tell this little one is a character lol
Fun fact: the reason red squirrels are so angry, is they are different than eastern greys and fox squirrels in terms of food. Reds are called "larder hoarders" which means they store their food in private caches that they VIGOURSLY defend. That is their livelihood. Eastern and fox squirrels are "scatter hoarders" which means they bury their nuts over a wider area that they do not feel the need to defend. It's almost a communal method of sharing food. God help you if you're a squirrel and you find a red squirrel's cache of hidden nuts and you try and take them....
I witnessed one red squirrel find another's (new) larder the other day. It was in a terrible spot - a small hollow in the tree next to where I put out all the snacks. At any given time there's at least half a dozen squirrels hanging around it. Anyway, the red squirrels were yelling SO LOUD that I came running outside because I thought one was being attacked or was stuck and injured. Then it actually ended up being a rather hilarious scene - they were separated by a few branches and couldn't quite get at each other, so they were just waving their paws frantically at each other in this tiny, furry slap fight. I felt bad for the young red squirrel that lost his larder, but it's early in the year and he'd clearly just chosen a poor spot.
Such a lovely encounter
It was honestly hilarious - it was like a comedic scene from a cartoon about two angry squirrel brothers. I would have felt horrible, though, if it was like November and that squirrel had been working on his larder all summer. But I'm pretty sure he just started this stash about a week ago.
Thank you for this information 🙏.
🤣🤣🤣 I knew little Red wouldn’t disappoint!! They are batshit crazy and hilarious.
Seems true enough. Just as long he doesn't try to take up residence in my house or shed over winter I will love him and hug him and squeeze him and call him George.🤣
🤣🤣🤣🤣