I’ve never seen this many baby pine cones before. Looks like we’re in for a bumper crop this year. I wonder what that portends for next winter. They are pretty cool looking.
E.J. Lefavour
My View of Life on the Dock
I’ve never seen this many baby pine cones before. Looks like we’re in for a bumper crop this year. I wonder what that portends for next winter. They are pretty cool looking.
E.J. Lefavour
Pine cone eaten clear to the core, photographed at a Pine Squirrel midden. The mid-day light was very harsh and too contrasty-click images to view details.
Adjacent to where we noticed the Japanese maple tree, Dale Resca, the Facilities Manager at Willowdale, discovered an American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) midden.
A squirrel midden is essentially a squirrel’s favorite place to eat; the fallen scales from consumed seed cones collect in piles, called middens. Sitting on their claimed stump, fallen log, or branch, the squirrel pulls the scales off the cones to get to the seeds.
American Red Squirrel Cache of Pine Cones
You can see from the above photo why the American Red Squirrel is often referred to as the Pine Squirrel. Ripening in late summer, the squirrels collect pine cones and store in a central cache. American Red Squirrels do not hibernate during the winter months; the caches of cones supply nourishment when food supplies are running low.
The American Red Squirrel is widely distributed throughout North America. They are smaller than a gray squirrel and somewhat larger than a chipmunk, with reddish fur and white venter, or underbelly.
American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) ~ Image courtesy Google images