Nadya's Nature Notes - November '99

By Nadya N.

Everyone here, I'm pretty sure, has been to a wildlife park at some point. And aside from all the fun you can have there - barbecuing, running around the grounds or maybe even swimming, there is one thing you probably noticed about most parks, especially those in North America and Europe - they're full of squirrels. The little rodents are everywhere! You can hear them "t-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r"-ing from the trees; you can see them chasing each other around like crazy and wonder if they're "all right upstairs"; or if you're lucky and if you have peanuts in your pocket, the squirrels will even come right up to you and take nuts from your hand.

This might get annoying to some people, especially around autumn, when the squirrels run up to everyone begging for food. But they have a very good reason to do so - the days and the nights are getting colder and colder, and unlike us, the little creatures live outside in the cold. So they need more and more food to keep them warm - and they still have to save up food for winter! These smart critters can have a lot of places where their food is hidden just in case - called caches - all over the forest, and they remember where each and every one is located! Don't you wish you could remember ALL of your school notes like that, when a test pops up?

Sometimes when you're walking through the forest, you'll see something funny - mushrooms hanging on the branches of a tree! You'll probably pass by wondering why someone is decorating trees already - Christmas is still a month away! But it's not Santa's elves getting impatient and decorating the forest, it's a squirrel saving food up for winter. Squirrels don't only eat peanuts - they'll eat just about anything from nuts to berries to mushrooms, and even sometimes birds' eggs. Although they eat eggs only in the spring, when no berries or nuts are ripe yet, and birds already laid eggs in nests. Eating scrambled eggs isn't their gourmet choice - they're not carnivores, they just don't have anything else to eat in the spring yet.

So when you're in a park, remember to bring some peanuts to feed the squirrels, so they will survive during the winter. And don't forget about the birds, like chickadees and nuthatches - they're staying here with us, so they need food for the winter too. So be sure to hang bird-feeders by your house, those that both birds and squirrels can get in to eat.

And the feeling, the smile you get when a trusting little squirrel or bird comes up to you to take a peanut from your hand - it really lights up your day, doesn't it?