Nature Note #159: Encounters with Audubon's Mammals (The Hudsonian Hoarder-Squirrel)
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| Sciurus Hudsonicus, Hudson Bay Squirrel, Chickaree Red Squirrel |
About a month ago, my girlfriend Alison and I visited Beaver Lake Nature Center in Baldwinsville, NY to watch the bird feeders. It was calming to sit and watch birds both small and not so small flit about on a bitter winter day.
While the flocks of finches and other seed eaters jostled for control of the sunflower seeds above, beneath the feeders were two mammals that usually cause much trouble whenever they appear near feeders. I am of course talking about squirrels.
In my first post, I mentioned how I kept seeing black squirrels all over Syracuse and how in certain parts of America, they just happen to be commonplace. In most parts of Central New York, seeing a black squirrel is practically guaranteed.
The American Red Squirrel is a New World species that is separate from the European Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) which is declining in many parts of the UK due to the introduction of Eastern Gray Squirrels (S. carolinensis). While I saw both species of squirrels coexisting peacefully at the feeders, they kept a reasonable distance from one another, each minding their own patch of fallen sunflower seeds.
When compared to the grays, red squirrels can be told from them in several ways. For one thing they are tiny! Compared to a grey, you might see in your local park or backyard gorging on sunflower seeds or leftover snack food, reds tend to stick to thicker woods with a preference for conifers. They feed mainly on the tiny seeds found in pine cones, but will also consume berries, mushrooms and even birds eggs. Like their other squirrel brethren, they will also store excess food in order to eat it later. Their method of doing so also differs from the grey squirrel.
While the common name for the red squirrel refers to the reddish-brown fur on their heads, back, sides, and tail, their Latin name calls them the "Hudsonian Hoarder Squirrel", although this title could really be applied to any squirrel that happens to live in the Canadian wilderness.
While a grey squirrel will engage in randomly digging holes, placing a nut inside it, burying it, and then maybe remembering where it put it several weeks later, the reds are more organized. They will store their food in one or more centralized locations within their territories called "middens". These can found very easily along the edges of trails in thick woodlands and often at the base of large trees. In these middens, stripped pine cone cores and scales will be scattered about with a small centralized pile located somewhere nearby.
During Audubon's time, it was known as the Hudson's Bay Squirrel or by its more colloquial name, the Chickaree. Audubon notes that it got this name from "...its noisy chattering note, and like most other Squirrels, is fond of repeating its cries at frequent intervals." He also goes on to note that while the residents of the eastern states of the time avoided consuming squirrels based on some sort of culinary prejudice towards them, "...we can assure our readers that the flesh of this species and many others, is both tender and well-flavoured..." I will have to keep that in mind the next time I'm hungry out in the woods.
While consuming the squirrels wasn't on my mind at the time, I continued to watch and photograph them at intervals, checking on their whereabouts and watching their careful dissection of the dropped seeds. As the afternoon ground away, we eventually left to trek home to our tiny apartment in the city. Even though it has taken me a while to write this post, I was delighted to see these little creatures up close and watch them, if only for a few hours on such a lovely winter day so early in the year.
Credits:
Audubon, J.J. (1845-1853) The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. pg. 128 Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/viviparousquadru45audu
Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library. "Sciurus Hudsonius, Hudson's Bay Squirrel, Chickaree Red Squirrel. Natural size." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1845 - 1848. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-6d30-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
All other images were taken by myself and belong to me.
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