"Cat Squirrels"

Recently, I sat face to face with a “cat squirrel” as it debated its next move. I sat motionless, wondering what I would do if this bushy-tailed creature, complete with sharp, tiny claws decided to lunge into my lap. During the last several weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to spend hours perched in a water oak tree waiting for deer to travel down their trail which meanders through the woods just yards from the banks of the Navasota River. While deer sightings have been few and far between, the gray squirrels, or “cat squirrels” are abundant in the river bottom this year and have provided hours of entertainment as they scamper from limb to limb and tree to tree chattering and barking as they feverishly search for, eat, gather, and bury acorns.

Gray squirrels are scientifically classified in the Order Rodentia along with porcupines, rats, mice, beavers, and other gnawing mammals. Their scientific name is Sciurus carolinensis although they are more commonly known as “cat squirrels” because of their agile movements and nervousness which resembles that of a cat. The gray squirrel is a medium-sized squirrel with dark yellowish rusty upper parts, especially on the head and back. The legs, arms, sides of neck, and sides of rump have gray-tipped or white-tipped hairs, giving these parts a gray appearance. Hairs of the tail are dull yellow at the base, then blackish, and tipped with white. The belly is white and ears have a conspicuous white spot at base in the winter. The gray squirrel averages 18 inches in total length with a tail averaging about 8 inches. Adults weigh between 11 and 21 ounces. Cat squirrels are highly gregarious and noisy. When the woods are otherwise quiet and still, these squirrels can be heard “cutting” acorns and constantly “barking”. The voice is described as being a c-h-u-c-k c-h-u-c-k c-h-u-c-k repeated rapidly and followed by a buzz and finished with a grunt. When one squirrel is alarmed, it will sound a warning “bark” as if to instruct the others to remain quiet until the danger has passed.

In Texas, gray squirrels’ native range is confined to the eastern 1/3 of the state. Within this range, they are confined to the river and creek bottoms. They make their homes in large, forested areas of mature hardwoods where the canopy is dense enough to permit them to leap from tree to tree through the crowns, without descending to the ground. Optimum habitat includes a mixture of mature hardwoods including oak, sweetgum, pecan, hickory, beech, and elm with an understory of mulberry, hornbeam, yaupon, huckleberry, and holly. As with most wildlife species, habitats with greater variety of trees, shrubs, and vines are home to a greater number of squirrels.

Although young gray squirrels may be found anytime of year, there are 2 main breeding periods – winter and summer. With a gestation period of 42-44 days, most young are born in February-March and August-September. Litter sizes vary from 1-4 young per litter. Young are born naked, blind, and deaf, without any teeth. They are completely dependent on their mother until they gradually grow teeth and hair and their eyes and ears are opened. At 14 weeks of age, they become independent of the mother. Gray squirrels prefer to raise their young in tree cavities 20-30 feet above the ground. During the summer or where tree cavities are limited, adults may bring forth young in leaf nests carefully constructed of twigs and leaves and lined with shredded bark, plant fibers, and grasses. There are usually 2 openings to these nests. Nests are used throughout the year as resting places and for refuge. They are strongly built to withstand wind and rain.

Gray squirrels spend tireless hours obtaining food both for now and later. Their primary food source is hard mast such as acorns, pecans, and hickory nuts so they must bury these items when available in the fall and uncover them throughout the year. Other food items included in their diet include: fruits of yaupon, hawthorn, blackberry, mulberry, and grape; maple and elm buds; moth and butterfly larvae; fungi; and grass seeds. To maintain proper body condition a gray squirrel must consumer 0.2lb of food per day. According to one calculation, it would take 7 water oaks and 15 red oaks to produce enough acorns to feed 2 squirrels for a year. This calculation does not take into account the competition these squirrels have with deer, fox squirrels, raccoons, opossum, woodpeckers, flickers, bluejays, flying squirrels, crows, rats, mice, and feral hogs for these same acorns. As a result, it is vitally important to the existence of gray squirrel populations that forests be managed to maintain an abundance of mature, mast producing oaks and pecans.

Land fragmentation, timber harvest, and competition with increasing populations of white-tailed deer and feral hogs in the river and creek bottoms of east Texas pose a real threat to gray squirrels. Many whom have childhood memories of hunting gray squirrels in the woods behind their parent’s or grandparent’s homes have given up the sport in pursuit of more productive endeavors because of reduced squirrel populations in recent years. Mature hardwoods have been cleared or thinned to make room for home sites, subdivisions, roads, or for profit from timber harvest. However, where dense stands of mature oaks and pecans remain in and along the river bottoms, gray squirrels thrive - especially after a good mast producing fall like we experienced in 2007. When clearing timber on your property, remember the cat squirrels and other creatures that rely on the acorns for food and the natural cavities for den sites. When sitting in the woods, hunting deer, hogs, or ducks, take a minute to recognize the barks of cat squirrels and their constant feeding activity accentuated by nervous movements and agile leaps from treetop to treetop.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

I’ve kept the hummingbird feeder hanging outside my kitchen window full of fresh, sugar water since noticing the first hummingbird zooming around my flower garden in March. Since then, there have been at least a few visiting “hummers” each week. They are always a welcomed sight while preparing breakfast in the morning or washing dishes after dinner in the evening as I’m fascinated by their incredibly fast wing beats and helicopter-like ability to hover in place and fly backward. In the last couple of weeks, the 2 or 3 regulars at our feeder have turned into flocks of ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) resembling swarms of mosquitoes. To my amazement, these birds are consuming more than 4 cups of sugar water every day!

From March to May, ruby-throated hummingbirds migrate from Mexico and Central America to and through Texas. They store up fat reserves and increase their body weight by as much as 50% before migrating across the Gulf of Mexico in as few as 18 hours. They can show up in our yards, literally, overnight. Some will follow the bloom of spring flowers and insect hatches northward to their breeding grounds in the northeastern U.S. and southern Canada. They leave their northern breeding grounds as early as July and as late as December in Texas. Males lead both the northern and southern migration.

Similar to most bird species, the females bear the responsibility of building nests, laying eggs, and caring for the young. They build a walnut-sized nest of spider silk, lichens, and plant down. These well-built nests can even be reused the following year. This nest holds two pea-sized eggs which the female will incubate for 12-16 days. Young are fed regurgitated nectar, spiders, and insects for about 10 days. Multiple broods may be raised each year, and hummingbirds can live as long as 12 years.

Adult male ruby-throats have an emerald green back, iridescent ruby red throat that may appear black under some lighting conditions, and a forked tail without white tips. Adult females are larger than males with an emerald green back, white breast and throat, and a rounded tail with white tips. Young of both sexes look like the adult female. These amazing birds weigh only 1/8th to 1/7th of an ounce. They can fly backwards, sideways, up, down, and even upside down for short distances. Their normal heart rate of 650 beats per minute (bpm) increases to 1,250bpm during flight. While hovering, their wings beat up to 80 times per second. The energy needed to maintain this high level of activity is provided by nectar, small insects, and spiders which they feed on 50-60 times per day. Nectar is lapped (not sucked) from plants and artificial feeders using their tubular tongue which extends well past the tip of their bill.

These fascinating little birds can provide excellent wildlife viewing as males try to defend the feeder from intruding hummers, multiple birds at a time will hover around the feeder, waiting for an opportunity to swoop in for a drink of the sugar water, they chirp and chatter as if scolding each other for taking too long, and chasing each other around the yard like young children playing tag. Even more intriguing to me than watching their behavior around the feeder, is watching them feed on their natural food sources of althea, honeysuckle, salvia, zinnia, and lantana. Recently, I even had one make several charges out of the elm tree I was dove hunting under as if to run me away from its territory.