Squirrels are cool, no matter how much of my bird seed they eat. I've always thought it rather unfair that here in the east we have so few species compared to out west - I like ground squirrels even more than tree squirrels, and all we have is the chippie. My yard is definitely a haven for them - we must have over a dozen in the stone wall and they have very little fear of us. Guess they know where the food's coming from.

Yep, another squirrel lover here - and I'm a member of TSL Club, too!

My squirrels get along swell with my birds - I have a big metal feeder with sunflower seed right underneath the bird feeders, and the squirrels sit there and the birds above. It works great.

We have mostly little greys here but further down the forest there are fox squirrels, too.

My dream is to see the Kaibab squirrels some day!

Koona

Hello fellow squirrel lovers!!!
I have some pics of my two babies(the only ones we have here)I have always loved to watch them play.They are a hoot.
http://community.webshots.com/user/mcauthen

I'm pretty sure I've posted this here before, but one more time can't hurt. Here's some of our residents..:-)They have it all here. 7 deciduous trees that make up their "superhighway" including the big oak that holds their house, and 3 pine trees for easy access to the cable and power lines that run behind our house. There are also 2 sheds, a deck, and our granddaughter's playhouse that make up the chipmunks' residence.

Here is a link that might be useful: Squirrel Central

Squirrel chewed the plastic flowers off my hummingbird feeder yesterday and the squirrel is now cold.

I still like squirrels but I was surprised to hear they are omnivorous. They will eat baby birds and I've been told mice too. I thought they just ate berries and nuts and other plant material! PJ

Envirocop, your comment was completely uncalled for, as I assume you're insinuating you killed the squirrel.

I have mixed feelings about them; I love them, I hate them. "Dork" is our resident obnoxious, aggressive squirrel. He's getting w-a-y too close and getting w-a-y to aggressive. He aggravated me so much last night that I brought my cat out. I held her, while Dork ran along the deck railing, coming at me. Shotzie ignored him, grrrrrrr. Not that I would've let her go after him; I just wanted to scare him.

"Hey, lady, where are you? Are you going to feed me or what??!?!?!?!?!?"

Squirrel lovers of the world?, ... count me in. They are wonderful, entertaining creatures. Man can be pretty destructive, callous, and spitefully mean to these herbivore seed and nut eaters. At one wildlife center meeting, the animal director played a video for us of demented humans trying to eradicate them by electrocution and other disturbingly-obsessed methods. Made you shake your head in utter disgust.

Thanks for sharing the photos. Our backyard would be a desolate place without the small group of gray squirrels. Such free and funny and entertaining antics. Momma squirrel gave birth to two litters in our maple tree hidebox. I treasured seeing their little heads peeking out. Momma used to cling to our patio screen door but she's moved on and finding some other naturally-grown food sources (i hope!). Bless the batch for relocating some of my bulbs and plantings and saving me the work!

THANK YOU squirrel lovers for sharing your thoughts and links to the pic galleries.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lucky's story, helping out

Tracey NJ6...That squirrel picture was cute, I bet that's really what he was thinking!

You can count me in too, I love the Squirrels, they more than earn their keep for food.
I set up a feeding station for the Squirrels last year in the Oak tree where their nest was. I put up a snack box, one ot the things that holds an ear of corn & also an old bird feeder the perch had broken off of they seem to like best of all since they can crawl in it & hide while they are eating. [it's flat on one side & closed up]
Well guess what, the birds won't stay out of the Squirrel feeders even though bird feeders are plentiful not too far away. The birds can't open the snack box of course but the Squirrels don't seem to care for it much either.
Haven't figured out yet why they birds seem to think the food in the Squirrel feeder is better than the other feeders. It's a bit tricky getting in that feeder but didn't take the birds long to figure it out.
I put a mixture of food in it, song bird food, squirrel food, cracked corn & scratch, even the Mockingbird is in & out of the Squirrel feeder all the time, had her babies there with her yesterday. I'm guessing the Mocker is after the fruit in the song bird food since they don't eat seeds - maybe the peanuts too?

I would never think of feeding just birds without including the Squirrels, they are hungry too plus do a good job of entertaining me...

Still begging my brother to make me a Squirrel feeder like the instructions posted here, he say's he's printed out the instructions so maybe there's hope?

Thanks for all the pictures posted, I never get tired of looking a Squirrel pictures... :-)

cre8ivemind......and others.....I'm with you on this one. I love squirrels! I have only the Eastern Gray Squirrel to enjoy but they are fun to watch. Sometimes they are very bad, but they are just trying to survive in a world that has been heavily altered by humans.

I am currently in the process of creating a backyard habitat for all kinds of wildlife, but especially the squirrels. The subdivision I live in was well shaded with beautiful, 40-50 year old majestic oaks, but unfortunately many folks are cutting them down (along with the Sweetgums, Maples, etc.). This decimation of the oaks has left the squirrels in a tough spot. I can never do enough to replace what was cut down, but will do what I can.

Here is my dilemna. I need to know what is the most beneficial tree to plant to help the squirrels. Unfortunately I have only one small space left for a tree and it is too small for an oak. A maple would be possible but I'm wondering what else I could plant. I live in SE PA and I'm leaning towards a Nyssa sylvatica (Black Tupelo) or a Corylus americana (American Filbert). Any other suggestions? I'm tempted to plant an oak and then just let the next homeowner worry that the tree is too big....in 30 years...but that wouldn't be fair.

Please help me (and the squirrels :-)

Thanks!

Apple trees/pear trees just for the squirrels. Don't spray the tree. You could by purchasing ones on dwarf root stock get several in the space of one large oak. Or you could plant the oak tree then weed out the fruit trees until only the oak is left.

It does depend on how you want to help the squirrels food or shelter. Most foods will only cover a part of the year and you can put up boxes for shelter.

We have some brown squirrels, not too many, hope it will stay like this.
I do love them, this should tell you why.....
Konrad

I love the birds but also enjoy the squirrels in the yard. Yes they can be destructive, in that case you baffle or cage the things you want to protect. I don't think they deserve to die for getting into a feeder or nestbox. Cats, raccoons, etc are potential predators too.

I have 3 bird feeders and they are all pole-mounted. Two are baffled with squirrel/raccoon baffles. The 3rd is a small ceramic tube feeder that a clever squirrel figured out how to get some sunflower seeds by hanging upside down and dropping them in his mouth...

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Hee hee, I took care of that problem. I put a smooth coating of Vaseline on the round top of the feeder and watched a squirrel take off when it touched the Vaseline ...that made me LOL

They get their share of seed and peanuts on the ground. The red ones visit sometimes they are real characters...such frenetic noisy little squirrels! :)

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It is actually against the law to "kill, harm, tease or molest a black squirrel" here in my hometown!