Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Squirrels' Nests

I've always been curious about squirrels' nests -- those leafy abodes high in the treetops that look far too flimsy to keep their homeowners warm and dry. The nest is called a "drey", and is made from small twigs, leaves and other leaf-like material. The inside is lined fur and other soft material. Apparently, squirrels also build dens inside tree cavities such as old woodpecker holes. If I were a squirrel, I'd go for the den -- seems far more cozy.

I found this information on the Squirrel Rehab Website's fact page. There was also an interesting (and rather frightening) note about just what squirrels might use to build their nests:

Caution: Please use caution as to what you leave laying around your yard. We are getting in more squirrels every year that have their tails tied together with string, twine or fishing line. The mom will find any of these and use them to make the nest with. While growing up the babies usually get their tails tangled up in it and never get free of it. They will fall out of the nest still tied together. So please check around your yard and make sure that you do not have anything they could borrow to use in their nest that would be harmful to the babies.

Something to think about.

Completely unrelated -- we've already had snow here. I'm just not ready for another long, cold winter wrapped in blankets of the white stuff.

7 comments:

Jan said...

We have a lot of squirrels around and that is something I would not have thought about.

Lynn Sinclair said...

I hadn't ever considered it either, Jan.

NuclearToast said...

I don't have a yard, so nothing to leave my junk laying around in. And yes, I just ended a sentence with a preposition.

Lynn Sinclair said...

So NT, you've got to watch out for squirrel burglars sneaking through the window to steal your junk.

And all preposition-ending sentences are free to roam at Animal Ovation.

Anonymous said...

There are a multitude of squirrels on the wooded grounds where I live, and I've seen *several* hopping around occasonally without tails.

I always thought it was perhaps a "genetic" thing.

Thanks for this post, Lynn. It's certainly something to think about.

Lynn Sinclair said...

And I always thought those squirrels had their tails caught under a car's wheels, Goergie.

Reminds me of photos of birds with their beaks or necks bound in plastic from the garbage -- the plastic that keeps 6 cans of beer together, for example. After seeing that many years ago, I began cutting all those kinds of things into tiny bits.

I think I may have a bit of an obsessive personality.

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