The fox squirrels are chasing each other through our Siberian elms today, demonstrating their impressive acrobatic skills. But their friskiness is more than a celebration of this warm, sunny day; January is mating season for our native tree squirrels and the males become very active, pursuing females and chasing away their competition.
The young are born in February or early March but will remain in the tree cavity or leaf nest for a few weeks. By late April they will be ready to fend for themselves and the adult female may have a second litter in early summer. As we all know, they will spend the rest of the year lounging in trees, feeding on buds, digging up bulbs, hording acorns, gnawing on walnuts, raiding bird feeders and driving the pet dogs crazy.
