North American Red Squirrels
By Corey • November 7, 2007 • 8 commentsA full day’s birding in the Adirondacks and along Lake Champlain on Tuesday with Will from The Nightjar was an absolute blast. We saw just over fifty species of bird and had a great time (and I added three birds to my New York State Big Year List). But this post isn’t about the birds; it’s about the American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), one of two squirrels in the genus Tamiasciurus, or pine squirrels (the other is the Pacific Coast’s Douglas Squirrel). The American Red Squirrel is an entirely different creature than the similarly-named Eurasian Red Squirrel.
The American Red Squirrels that chatter from every patch of evergreens in the Adirondacks are fearless little creatures and I love to watch their antics despite the fact that they are known to predate upon bird eggs and nestlings. The particular squirrel pictured in this post was encountered at the feeders at the Newcomb Visitor Interpretive Center in the tiny town of Newcomb near the high-peaks section of the Adirondacks.
Will and I had stopped there hoping to see Evening Grosbeaks at the feeders and instead found just squirrels and Black-capped Chickadees. Both species were amazingly unafraid. In fact, while crouched down to photograph a squirrel on the railing of the back porch at the interpretive center I got the distinct impression that the squirrel was considering a jump onto my head, an impression confirmed by Will who told me I was crazy to get so close.
But how could something so cute mean me harm?
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Red-squirrels! Hmmmm
No, seriously folks this critter was ready to defend its feeder, from other critters, chickadees and Corey.
It would have made my soon-to-be written blog post more interesting if the Squirrel had in fact lept into Corey’s face. I asked him afterwards what he would have done. Corey’s response “If it landed on my head, I think I would have been Ok, but if it went for the face, I don’t know”. Either way I had my camera ready.
That however was just an amsuing side story, the day really belonged to the birds… and good ones at that.
Red Squirrels got attitude!
[...] Newcomb too was a bust, with lots of very tame Chickadees and a now famous Red Squirrel. A quick walk around the visitors center building yielded another Brown Creeper and flushed two Ruffed Grouse. One of the dozen or  Black-capped Chickadees at the feeders is below. [...]
“But how could something so cute mean me harm?”
Don’t ever - EVER - underestimate a red squirrel. Just trust me on this . . .
I saw what I thought was a chipmunk on steriods in my front yard this morning and immediately went on-line and found out he was a North American red squirrel. We have never seen them in Connecticut before, at least not here in Southington. I was very happy to read that they love pine trees, as I have quite a few in my yard. I was always relieved to learn that he was not a product of chipmunk/squirrel mating….that would be too weird. Thanks for the information and your beautiful website.
Sincerely,
JoAnn Beaudoin
@JoAnn: The thought of a chipmunk/squirrel mating is kind of scary. Glad you enjoyed the post and I hope you come back to visit us again!
I had never seen a red squirrel before until about two weeks ago. Imagine our surprise as my daughter and I went walking on the upper trails of Roberts property in Bristol, opened to the public. We heard intense chattering and looked beyond an old picket fence. There, on a lower branch, was a red squirrel! I managed to snap one picture before he scampered off. I was surprised at his small size compared to a gray squirrel.