Earth Almanac: November/December 2005

Forest Jesters

In late fall red squirrels make the woods of our north country and high country less lonesome. Who (save perhaps camp owners who find them gnawing their windowsills or shredding their insulation) can suppress a smile at these quarrelsome, bossy, saucy, sometimes furious, always noisy forest sprites? Now, as they store green cones for winter, they are, if possible, even more active than usual, and the red-and-black ear tufts they grow at this time of year give them an even perkier appearance. Every mood—fear, anger, surprise, indignation, joy—is expressed in the position and motion of their luxuriant tails. Vocalizations, including rattles, chatters, screeches, buzzes, chirps, growls, and squeaks, fall into two main categories—variable notes and repeated notes. The former category communicates alarm or aggression; the latter, territorial defense. Red squirrels are especially fond of mushrooms, which they hang to dry before storing. And as they eat the seeds of conifer cones, they strip away the scales, leaving them in piles that make fine storing places for additional cones because the moist environment prevents them from opening and shedding seeds. These piles keep growing with succeeding generations of squirrels.