![[The Grey Squirrel is very agile, it can run through and up trees with ease.]](greysquirrel.jpg)
What do they look like?Gray squirrels are bushy tailed rodents with a mixture of brown, black, and white fur which when viewed from a distance blend together to look gray. Their belly fur is white or light gray. Some gray squirrels are black, a color phase that can be common in some locales. Their bodies are 16-20 inches long and they weigh up to 1 ½ pounds.
Where are they found?
Gray squirrels are found throughout Maryland in mixed hardwood forests as well as in suburban and urban areas. They prefer forests with mature, nut producing trees such as oak and walnut. Gray squirrels will use old woodpecker holes or natural cavities as dens to live in and raise young. They will also build large nests composed of leaves and twigs. Gray squirrels have adjusted well to manmade changes to the landscape and are a familiar animal in neighborhoods and city parks.
What do they eat?
The gray squirrel has a varied diet with mast crops (acorns, walnuts, beechnuts, etc.) being a very important component. Other food items include seeds, fruits, insects, fungi, and occasional bird eggs and bird nestlings. At the end of the summer, gray squirrels will store seeds and nuts to feed on when food is scarce during the winter months.
What other kinds of squirrels live in Maryland?
The fox squirrel, red squirrel, southern flying squirrel, northern flying squirrel,
and Delmarva fox squirrel (endangered) are other squirrels that live in Maryland. Eastern chipmunks and woodchucks are also members of the squirrel family which inhabit Maryland.
I didn't know that!
On some occasions, during the fall, large numbers of gray squirrels will search for new places to live. It is thought that this behavior, known as emigration, results when squirrel numbers are high and food is scarce. When mature forests covered most of eastern North America, this mass movement of squirrels was quite spectacular.
The conspicuous bushy tail of the gray squirrel has many uses. It is used for balance, a blanket, an umbrella, parachute, and communication.
Top left photo by Chuck Prahl