For the Birds: Look Who’s Coming to Dinner (and Breakfast)

Swinger - Douglas Squirrel
on bird feeder
Photo by Christine Southwick

Look who’s coming to dinner (and breakfast)

(or, there are no real squirrel-proof bird feeders) 

By Christine Southwick

The best that you can hope for is a feeder that slows down the squirrels, usually by making it hard for them to get a full paw or mouthful of seed at a time. I have no objection to letting squirrels eat a little bird seed, but I refuse to feed the squirrels instead of the birds!

Squirrel-proof bird feeder doesn't deter Douglas Squirrel
Photo by Christine Southwick

I do find, however, that I am willing to let the cute little Douglas Squirrels eat without running them off, like I run off the bigger (usually about 20 inches long) Eastern Gray Squirrels.

Douglas Squirrels are the smallest squirrels in this area that you will likely see, only being 10-14 inches long including the tail. Flying squirrels are smaller (10-12 inches) and are probably here in the area, but they are nocturnal, and not usually seen.

Douglas Squirrels, also known as chickarees, are noisy little mammals that will “bark”, whistle, growl and scold intruders. They have brown backs and their tummies are orange-ish. They are very agile, and wily.

Douglas squirrel
Photo by Christine Southwick

The primary food for this squirrel is nuts from conifer cones, like fir, pine, spruce, and hemlock. If you find a pile of Douglas fir cone scales at the base of a tree, Douglas Squirrel are eating, and maybe living, there.

Douglas Squirrel numbers have not kept up with that of the larger Eastern Gray Squirrel, for which the Gray Squirrel has been blamed, but it may be that the loss of the Douglas Squirrel’s preferred coniferous forests due to increased housing and development is the real culprit.

When dead or unsightly trees are taken down, the Douglas Squirrels lose needed nesting sites, and places to cache their winter food.

Douglas squirrel in foreground, Eastern Grey squirrel in rear
Photo by Christine Southwick

But if evergreen trees are planted, and snags kept or created, Douglas Squirrels can take back some of their territories. My yard is proof. I’ve added evergreens and other native trees and shrubs. I use wood chips to retard weeds, and don’t use pesticides. I supply year-round water and food. It helps that I have a green space with older evergreen trees behind my house where much of the invasive plants have been removed. And now, for the last three years I have had Douglas Squirrels in my yard.