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NW Washington | Squirrels often raid bird nests as do Jays, crows and even snakes. Once when our son was small he got into a jay's nest and they sure got after him and my wife too when she got involved.
Here is a little cut and paste on the subject.
-Copy/paste from http://www.wisconsinhunter.com/Pages/squ... "Squirrels have a great diversity in their diets. Gray squirrels eat many kinds of nuts, acorns, seeds, fruits of plants like maple, elm, hickory, beech, cherry, oak and thornapple. They also feed regularly on fungus, inner tree bark, sap, and occasionally corn, grain and the underground fleshy parts of plants, and have even been known to eat insect pupae and cocoons and to rob bird's nests of eggs and nestlings. Fox squirrels are a little more particular and eat walnuts, hickory nuts, acorns, hazelnuts, fruits, and when nuts are not available, seeds and buds. Fox squirrels seldom bother bird nests. Both species will gnaw on bones to get mineral matter and sharpen their incisors. They bury nuts and acorns in single holes for later meals, but many of these buried treasures are never recovered and end up becoming trees."
Even w plenty of food available animals may attempt to use resources for food that are not a regular part of their diet if it's in their territory. Some squirrels can be aggressive twds birds. Just finding this out can be very disturbing to the uninitiated. Nature isn't anything like Walt Disney told us it was. Chase the squirrels away whenever you see or think they may be headed to the nest. I don't think you should move the nest, however. Nice of you to care and bravo for being so observant. | |
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Question about squirrels
