By Kathy, CORAC Region 9

In November, I noticed a squirrel in our yard, attempting to build a nest in our catalpa tree. It seemed a little late; from what I had read, their nests should have been finished weeks earlier. The project wasn’t going too well. The squirrel placed sticks on the branch, only to have them slide off. Whatever it carried up and tried to use ended up on the ground. The plucky little squirrel tried over and over again, but to no avail. The next time I looked out, the squirrel was just lying on the tree branch, and had seemingly given up. Was this squirrel young, inexperienced, or just lacking in skills? No way to know, but I felt sorry for it, and hoped it had another place to shelter in the coming winter. (And I said “little,” but every squirrel we have seen lately has been incredibly fat, as if they have been bulking up for a really hard winter.)

A week or two later, we noticed a squirrel scrambling up the trunk of our blue spruce tree with a mouthful of sticks and leaves. Not knowing if this was the same one who had tried before, we watched with interest. Surprisingly, it was joined by another squirrel with a mouthful of leaves. Maybe they were preparing to start a family; I had read that they often bear their young in mid-winter.