Do you have fat squirrels?

[Ought Six]

I was down at my sister's place in the Portland, Oregon area for Xmas week. She feeds her squirrel (and raccoons, crows, other birds, etcetera) daily. She has been noticing that her squirrels are enormous. They have put on a huge amount of fat this year; far more than she has ever seen.

As it turned out, Portland has already gotten more snow in December than any other month since January, 1950. Animals seem to know when a really rough winter is coming, and pack on the fat while they can. So this seems to indicate we are in for a long, cold winter.

I was wondering if any of you have observed fat squirrels in your area as well, or other signs in animals of a severe winter ahead?

[Susan4]

I was just watching some today while working up firewood and they don't seem bigger than normal. So far we've seen some cold and a little snow and ice but not as bad as previous years. OTOH we trapped two beavers out of the lake overnight and one was a huge sow. The other must have been one of her offspring and was much smaller.

[jane333]

On a note of similar topic....our filbert tree, which usually produces a good crop of nuts in most years, produced only empty shells this year. I attribute it to the dry summer, but am wondering what the squirrels are going to be eating pretty soon.

[A.T. Hagan]

Do you have fat squirrels?

Only until I can slip them some bonbons. {bleep}{bleep}{bleeping} rodents...

.....Alan.

[Feather]

The squirrels around here are kind of thin and have ratty tails. We have had more snow in December this past year then we have had in years.

[rb.]

Ours, both the small red/brown ones, and the larger black ones, don't look fatter than usual, but quite healthy. Bushy tails, shiny coats, and not thin. I think that's because they've been eating my strawberries all last summer, the chipmunk my tomatoes, and the black squirrels are fed by neighbours with peanuts. They did seem much more active in their gathering efforts early in the fall, though. Guess that's because so much snow and cold was on the way so early.

[Ben Franklin]

I haven't seen many squirrels in this area at all. I know there is a large hawk population around here, maybe they've eaten them .... or the owls or pine martins got them. Maybe the Stellar Jays ate the young 'uns, they're really disgusting in the way they just gobble down newly born or hatched critters.

[PNW]

We live 80 miles N. of Seattle. Our outside animals seem FRANTIC when visiting the feeders. Unusual behaviour.

[Ought Six]

So the phenomina seems to be limited to the Pacific northwest, from the comments thus far.

[Auburn Boy]

We have two Grey Squirrels that live in our backyard. Now that you mention it, they are quite a bit fuller looking than last year. (Albeit, the female has no tail. She's otherwise pretty chubby.)

[preppiechick]

o6-

I've seen some normal but also a lot of unusually large sized squirrels, in suburban saint louis. I even mentioned it to my dh, last month. I grew up in upper new england, and I don't remember seeing any this size, before. We have had very odd weather, this year. Not very hot, this summer, and record rain. Today it was almost 60, tomorrow it is going to 19, then snow on tuesday. It has been a real roller coaster. Maybe that's why there is a difference with the squirrels...they don't know what to expect!

[M Fox]

Between the cat food and the acorns, the squirrels here are fat n' sassy.

[Darkimbolc]

Here in Upstate NY, they are looking average. Though, we've had an very mild winter thus far (compared to our usual).

[dreadstalker]

The squirrels around my home are certainly fat.

mainly because all of my attempts at keeping the bleeeping things out of my bird feeders have failed miserably.

[ltow]

All the squirrels I see are normal this year.
We have had very little snow and other than a short cold snap it has been a "warm" winter.

[Mama Alanna]

Very few squirrels here at all this year. The oak trees dropped a very heavy crop of acorns in the fall of '07, and then almost nothing this past fall. Starvation? The pair of red-tail hawks that are almost certainly nesting in the area? I dunno.

[VT9]

There were two squirrels running up and down a tree outside my house last week. At the time I thought they looked pretty chunky.

[Potemkin]

http://www.wbbm780.com/Acorn-Shortage-Is-Bad-News-For-Squirrels/3597140

Posted: Sunday, 04 January 2009 11:06PM

Acorn Shortage Is Bad News For Squirrels

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - An acorn shortage in Indiana's woodlands has cut into squirrels' chief food source and given hunters more chances to bag some of the furry rodents.

Biologists aren't sure why oak trees produced so few nuts last fall.

But hunters are having a banner year at Indiana's public hunting areas as squirrels are making themselves easier targets by foraging more boldly than usual in search of their favorite food.

Purdue University forestry professor Rob Swihart says that acorns are a staple for a whole array of animals. He predicts animal population declines in the next couple of years.

Biologists say acorn production is cyclical, but they also point to various weather factors, including a late freeze in 2007 that likely interrupted red oak acorn development.

[Arianwen]

Not too many squirrels here in downtown Vancouver, but there are a couple of gigantic raccoons living down the street.

[A.T. Hagan]

I've been looking at my local tree rats a little more closely since this thread started and so far as I can see they all look to be their more or less normal shapes. Losses haven't been any worse than usual.

While up to the farm in Georgia my grandmother asked me to look at her potted hibiscus to see if I could determine what had ravaged them. Squirrels had gotten into the back porch and eaten every flower, every leaf and the tips of every stem. She was quite put out. I reckon she'll have my dad killing squirrels now! :lol:

.....Alan.

[Arianwen]

You say "rat" like it's a bad thing. :p

[kelly]

The squirrels around my house have been getting fatter and fatter as I put out more and more discarded/stale (human) food.

[Misty]

There was a recent newspaper article in our local paper about how the oak trees in our county didn't produce acorns this year, and people were wondering what the squirrels would eat this winter. We have two 30 year old oak trees in our yard that normally produce thousands of acorns every year but this year there weren't any at all. It's the first we ever had that happen.

The squirrels are small and have less fur on their tails than they usually do.

Nobody seems to know why the oaks didn't produce acorns.

[Pablo Escobar]

Just as an aside, I saw an article somewhere stating that because of the lack of sunspots, our ionosphere, which had been averaging a hight of about 450 miles for the past few years, is now down to 250 miles.

I would think that, regardless of cause or effect, the fact that the hard cold vacumm of outerspace is that much closer to the planet's surface would cool off the world.

[Potemkin]

I've been looking at my local tree rats a little more closely since this thread started and so far as I can see they all look to be their more or less normal shapes. Losses haven't been any worse than usual.

While up to the farm in Georgia my grandmother asked me to look at her potted hibiscus to see if I could determine what had ravaged them. Squirrels had gotten into the back porch and eaten every flower, every leaf and the tips of every stem. She was quite put out. I reckon she'll have my dad killing squirrels now! :lol:

.....Alan.

Squirrels and brown gravy is good eating.

[Mountain Man]

Here in north central Arkansas the squirrels are numerous,running all over the place. Mostly we have only the grey squirrels. Last year there was a late freeze, very spotty acorn and other nut crops.This year there was lots of rain and a terrific crop of all nuts,persimmons,hickory nuts,black walnuts etc. So the squirrels are numerous.
They are tasty,when cooked correctly.Young ones can be fried,older tough ones can be made into stew or a gumbo.Don't like to kill them,so we eat more chicken.

[Ben Franklin]

How do most people in your area hunt them, Mountain Man? .22s? Or do some use squirrel poles to snare them?