Red Squirrels v. Gray Squirrels

Eurasian Red Squirrel.

In a rapidly changing world, it may not take much for a species to find itself being pushed over the edge.

Look at the Red Squirrel in the U.K., for example.

This is a gorgeous little animal, but it lives almost exclusively on pine nuts, hazels nuts, beech nuts and chestnuts.

It never eats acorns.

No problem so long as it has no direct competitor vying for its ecological niche.

But competition arrived in the 19th Century, when a few Gray Squirrels were imported from North America.

Suddenly, the Red Squirrel had a competitor, but a competitor with a difference.

You see, Gray Squirrels will not only eat pine nuts, hazelnuts, beech nuts, and chestnuts, but they also love acorns as well.

And so in years when pine nuts are in decline, Gray Squirrels have prevailed over the Red, and in those years when acorns are in decline, Gray Squirrel have competed head-to-head with Red Squirrels for pine nuts, but from a slightly higher numerical base than in years before, and with a bit more of the forest under their control.

And so, inexorably, a tipping point has occurred, and the Red Squirrel is now in steep decline all over Great Britain except for Scotland, where pines trees still prevail and oaks are relatively rare.


North American Gray Squirrel
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Wildlfe In the Yard

It snowed! Fox, raccoon, two colors of squirrel, and a cardinal that was feeding so early in the morning, that it was really night time. The color on the cardinal is off as I had to really lighten the picture and turn up the contrast to see what it was.

One more night with the camera in this location, and then I will move it to the goldfish pond and see what I can find there. Maybe nothing.

I'm a bit surprised I have not gotten a possum on the camera yet -- the fox might be driving them off.

I may put the camera on a bird feeder too, just to see what turns up. I know I have one feeder that is raided by raccoon pretty often. I would like to see how he gets past the squirrel baffles! Easily, apparently.

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Camera Trap Wildlife in the Rain

It was raining yesterday, and again early this morning, but not enough to discourage a small parade of wildlife from coming to my front yard. The rain actually makes the pictures look kind of magical. I can hardly wait until it snows!







I am still having some operator error with the camera. I need to put the food back a little farther to avoid glare, and I also need to figure out how to turn off the date-time and I apparently have managed to get AM and PM confused. There is a learning curve!





I have already learned one thing with the camera trap -- blue jays like kibble dog food! This fellow was banging down a whole piece of Purina, never mind the sunflower seeds all around him. Blue Jays are very aggressive birds, but quite lovely I think.








Here's my friend, the raccoon. I have a small parade of raccoons that have come to the yard over the years, and I think they are less territorial than the fox are.

From display behavior on another photograph, I this raccoon may have met the fox at the feeder -- the clock times also suggests this was happening. The fox seems to have come, departed, and come back again, with the raccoon in the middle part of the visits.

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Thanks to Chris for photoshopping the date out
of one of the fox pics, and making it clearer too!

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