Tuesday, June 15, 2010

A Squirrel's Summer Cottage


When I was doing a little internet research on red squirrels yesterday, I discovered that they sometimes build a summer nest, called a 'drey', made of a mixture of twigs, leaves and such, usually on a tree branch next to the trunk. They can be quite sizable. It was then I knew what I had noticed recently in a tree in the wooded area on the trail. A few weeks ago, some fellow marsh walkers pointed out a bluejay's nest in a pine tree. Soon after that, the nest seemed to be abandoned, but one day when I looked, it had grown substantially in size, and I could see leaves among the new material. I haven't yet noticed any activity around the nest, but now I'm pretty sure who (what?) built it. I had to do a bit of maneuvering to get this shot this morning, but I think you can make out the nest.

1 comment:

  1. I use to see big squirrel(gray) nests in trees when I lived in Chicago. I didn't realize the nest were their summer cottages.

    Alice

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