Walking With Nature: Walking the Gateway Wetlands in March

A couple days ago, a man I met at the north end of the Gateway Wetlands pointed to a squirrel building a nest (called a drey) in a nearby tree. The squirrel broke off twigs one at a time and scrambled back to his construction site with them in its mouth. My informant said he had seen the squirrel gather leaves earlier. He told his grandson that the twigs made the squirrel’s bed and the leaves were the mattress or sheets and blankets.

Most tree squirrels prefer dens in trees for nests, but there are not always enough hollow places to accommodate the population. Their second choice is to build a nest of twigs, leaves and other organic material in the crook of a tree. The drey provides less protection than a den, so more infants are captured by raccoons, hawks and other predators.

The squirrel we watched in the Wetlands worked with energy and determination. It may be getting ready for babies – possibly for the second litter of the year. Many fully-grown squirrels give birth in early spring and again in the summer. For the fox squirrel and the eastern gray squirrel, the two species most commonly seen around Bolingbrook, a litter averages 2-4 babies. They are so tiny when born that you could hold a couple of litters in one hand. 

I believe the squirrel we watched building its nest was a fox squirrel, though it was hard to positive because it was high in the tree, and the sky behind it was bright. Fox squirrels are somewhat longer and heavier than the gray squirrel. Both the fox squirrel and the gray squirrel can have some somewhat reddish fur. If the tummy is white, you can be sure it is the gray squirrel.

Both the gray and the fox squirrel are largely solitary. Squirrels that live in the same area may be seen together (especially when the males are chasing a female with the hope of mating), but they nest separately. The male does not help care for the babies, and won’t be seen in the nest after they have arrived.

Squirrels are rodents, of the same family tree as mice, rates, voles, beavers and muskrats. Squirrels eat acorns and other nuts. They bury food in the fall and retrieve some of it during the winter. An “unintended consequence” (from the perspective of the squirrel), is that some of the acorns and nuts sprout and grow into new trees. In the winter and early spring, if their larder is empty, squirrels sometimes resort to eating buds or bark from trees. They also eat insects, fruits, berries, and corn. Owls, hawks, snakes, raccoons, dogs, foxes and bobcats are happy to include squirrels (especially the young) on their menus.

Squirrels have sharp front claws, so they can get a good grip on whatever they are climbing. Their hind legs are double-jointed, which is one reason they can run down as well as up a tree.

The north end of the Gateway Wetlands is what is call “wet woodland,” and provides appropriate habitat for the squirrels. One advantage of walking in a wooded area before the trees leaf out is that you can more easily spot the squirrels and birds—and their nests—in the trees.

My dad was not very fond of squirrels after some of them ate into the siding of his home in Iowa. Sometime after that incident I saw four baby squirrels in the tree in his front yard. I imagined myself a child again and wrote the following poem:

Miracle

Papa says enough’s enough.

Squirrels devoured the bird feed

and gnawed the corner of the house.

But still I count as miracle

those quads cavorting in the oak,

scampering through branches.

They chase each other

up and down the trunk

though not yet to the ground.

Shy when first I gaze on them,

they dash up higher.

They haven’t learned to hide,

to stretch their furry bodies out

all brown against brown branches.

They’ll learn.

But now they sprint among young leaves

and make me sing.

But Papa won’t be pleased.

He’ll say, “Four more squirrels?

Enough’s enough!”

~ Wilda Morris

This poem was first published in The Avocet (http://avocetreview.com/poem.html),  a quarterly journal “devoted to poets seeking to understand the beauty of nature and its interconnectedness with humanity.”

© Wilda Morris