SQUIRRELS - Written by Colin Bartlett

What a cute little creature our native Red Squirrel. These small reddish brown squirrels are native to Vancouver Island and are not a common guest in most backyards. Over the last few years though they have been reported at more backyard bird feeders within the city limits.

There is only the one native squirrel on Vancouver Island, the Red Squirrel, but many years ago a few of the Eastern Grey Squirrels made their way to Victoria. Since then the Eastern Grey Squirrel has been venturing northward invading Duncan, Chemainus and working towards Ladysmith. There are a few of the grey squirrels around Nanaimo and north of here but the population of those few will be growing very soon.

So what is the problem with having the Eastern Grey Squirrel around? The main problem is that they are an introduced species to the west and like other introduced species, such as starlings and House Sparrows, they end up taking over food sources for many different native species as well as territory, possibly limiting the breeding of native species of both birds and mammals.

The native range of the Eastern Grey Squirrel is the eastern United States and Canada and into parts of Manitoba, but have been introduced into the western provinces and states. The Eastern Grey Squirrel was introduced to Vancouver and expanded to take over the lower mainland. Since their introduction to the lower mainland the native Red Squirrel has almost disappeared from the area.

As for size our native Red Squirrel is a small squirrel compared to the Eastern Grey Squirrel, with a total length of approximately 30 centimeters. Their body and tail colour is a solid rufous or reddish-brown with a bit of a grey colour on the belly. Another identification marking to look for is a white-eye ring. The Eastern Grey Squirrel is larger in size than our native Red Squirrel at about 45 centimeters in length. By their name it is assumed that they are grey in colour, which some are but they also come in other shades like black, brown and a mixture.

The Red Squirrel is also territorial and that is why we only see them one at a time, and they are very vocal especially when someone or something is in their territory. As for the Eastern Grey Squirrel their territories tend to overlap and they work together in groups finding food.

The Eastern Grey Squirrel is aggressive and has a great chewing ability allowing they to break into hard seed cones and also wood and some plastics. When it comes to bird feeders the Grey Squirrel can easily chew a larger opening to get to the birdseed quickly, but some manufacturers now use polycarbonate plastic and metal parts in their feeders to keep the squirrels from destroying them. Usually our Red Squirrel is not as aggressive and just eats what it can get.

A few things that can be done to prevent the squirrels from stealing all the birdseed or destroying a feeder, is to place a squirrel baffle, above your hanging bird feeder. This prevents the squirrel from climbing down or jumping on to your bird feeder. Some squirrel baffles also work on small posts to keep the squirrel from climbing up. Even with a small thin metal post, a squirrel or other rodent can shimmy up the post. To stop them place a larger diameter tube around the post, such as a four to six inch p.v.c pipe about 4 feet tall, so they are unable to shimmy up. If using a wood post, wrapping some sheet metal around the post up near the bird feeder will also work. As good as squirrels climb they also can jump a good distance, so place the bird feeders in an open area where the squirrels cannot jump onto the feeder from a tree branch.

Another option is to give the squirrel a place of their own to feed, away from the bird feeders but where you can still enjoy them. A supply of black oil sunflower seed or peanuts is their preferred seed.

At some point in time a squirrel will visit your backyard feeders and there are two ways to deal with it, battle them or understand how they operate and use baffles on the feeders and maybe let them have their own space, so you can watch them and the birds and not lose the battle with the squirrels.

Happy birding!!