Do squirrels eat robins?

[Jack]

I was sitting outside, watching some peaceful robins hop around in the snowy grass, when, seemingly out of nowhere at all, a huge grey squirrel darted out into the group of birds and attacked one of them (a large female), grabbed it and struggled for a few seconds. The bird (eventually) broke free and flew away, but I was greatly disturbed thereafter for seeing it.

For our non-US/Canadian friends, this is what I mean by robin:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/A ... Robin.html

And this is what I mean by gray squirrel:

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/s ... ensis.html

edited to add links

[gonzo914]

From www.squirrels.org -- "The gray squirrel's diet consists of nuts, seeds and fruit. It will eat bird eggs, bugs, and even an animal carcass if there is no other food source available. "

Apparently, the little buggers are not averse to making their own animal carcasses should the need arise.

They are, after all, just fuzzy-tailed rats.

(Or maybe he was just trying to screw it.)

[Jack]

From www.squirels.org -- "The gray squirrel's diet consists of nuts, seeds and fruit. It will eat bird eggs, bugs, and even an animal carcass if there is no other food source available. "

The website doesn't work.

(Or maybe he was just trying to screw it.)

I doubt that.

[gonzo914]

There -- I fixed it -- left out an 'r'. Try this -- http://www.squirrels.org/facts.html

Or if you had read farther down the page you posted --

Food Habits
Sciurus carolinensis feeds mostly on nuts, flowers and buds of more than 24 species of oaks, 10 species of hickory, pecan, walnut and beech tree species. Maple, mulberry, hackberry, elm, bucky and horse chestnut fruits, seeds, bulbs or flowers are also eaten along with wild cherry, dogwood, hawthorn, black gum, hazelnut, hop hornbeam and gingko tree fruits, seeds, bulbs and/or flowers. The seeds and catkins of gymnosperms such as cedar, hemlock, pine, and spruce are another food source along with a variety of herbaceous plants and fungi. Crops, such as corn and wheat, are eaten, especially in the winter. Insects are eaten in the summer and are probably especially important for juveniles. Cannibalism has been reported, and squirrels may also eat bones, bird eggs and nestlings, and frogs. They bury food in winter caches using a method called scatter hoarding and locate these caches using both memory and smell.

Primary Diet:
omnivore .

Animal Foods:
birds; mammals; amphibians; eggs; carrion ; insects.

Plant Foods:
leaves; seeds, grains, and nuts; fruit.

Other Foods:
fungus.

[Jack]

Try this -- http://www.squirrels.org/facts.html

Or if you had read farther down the page you posted --

Food Habits
Sciurus carolinensis feeds mostly on nuts, flowers and buds of more than 24 species of oaks, 10 species of hickory, pecan, walnut and beech tree species. Maple, mulberry, hackberry, elm, bucky and horse chestnut fruits, seeds, bulbs or flowers are also eaten along with wild cherry, dogwood, hawthorn, black gum, hazelnut, hop hornbeam and gingko tree fruits, seeds, bulbs and/or flowers. The seeds and catkins of gymnosperms such as cedar, hemlock, pine, and spruce are another food source along with a variety of herbaceous plants and fungi. Crops, such as corn and wheat, are eaten, especially in the winter. Insects are eaten in the summer and are probably especially important for juveniles. Cannibalism has been reported, and squirrels may also eat bones, bird eggs and nestlings, and frogs. They bury food in winter caches using a method called scatter hoarding and locate these caches using both memory and smell.

Primary Diet:
omnivore .

Animal Foods:
birds; mammals; amphibians; eggs; carrion ; insects.

Plant Foods:
leaves; seeds, grains, and nuts; fruit.

Other Foods:
fungus.

I didn't come across the links until after I'd posted about the experience itself, so I couldn't have read the link before I knew it existed.

[Cynth]

Cannabalism!

[Jack]

Poor things. Tonight I am going to buy a bag of squirrel food and sprinkle it around. The tulips are sprouting, so they should be able to eat them, soon, too...

[djm]

There is a wild rabbit that has taken to sitting in the sun under one of my trees. It looks like a pile of old leaves pushed up against the trunk until it moves. I was surprised to see one of the local squirrels attack it several times until the rabbit pushed off.

djm

[Redwolf]

Poor things. Tonight I am going to buy a bag of squirrel food and sprinkle it around. The tulips are sprouting, so they should be able to eat them, soon, too...

That's no help to them. For one thing, they almost certainly have plenty of food cached (ever heard the term "to squirrel something away"? It's well-founded). For another, habituating wild creatures to being fed by humans is never a good thing...they become dependent, and it's they who are hurt in the long run by misguided kindness.

Redwolf

[Jack]

Poor things. Tonight I am going to buy a bag of squirrel food and sprinkle it around. The tulips are sprouting, so they should be able to eat them, soon, too...

That's no help to them. For one thing, they almost certainly have plenty of food cached (ever heard the term "to squirrel something away"? It's well-founded). For another, habituating wild creatures to being fed by humans is never a good thing...they become dependent, and it's they who are hurt in the long run by misguided kindness.

Redwolf

I know...it just makes me sad. All the squirrels (and chipmunks, too) on campus are frequently fed by people.

But I wonder, if feeding them is such a horrible thing, why do they make and sell "squirrel feeders," just like bird feeders?

[Redwolf]

They sell both squirrel and bird feeders for the sake of the humans who like to attract them to a particular area so they can watch them. Another reason for squirrel feeders is to keep them out of bird feeders, so the people who would rather watch birds than squirrels have a better chance of seeing them (since a squirrel will clean out a bird feeder in no time flat...and will chase away all the birds it can while it's doing so!). Typically, wildlife does just fine without human intervention, and putting out food does more for the human than it does for the creature.

Redwolf

[djm]

They sell squirrel feeders because there are people willing to pay for them.

djm

[jsluder]

Hmm... squirrels eating robins... Maybe that's while squirrel tastes like chicken.

[Dale]

Squirrels, including the ones that hang out in my attic, are notorious carnivores. They kill and eat a variety of animals, sometimes acting alone and sometimes in roving packs of dozens, even hundreds of the bloodthirsty little beasts. A pack of wild squirrels, can take down an animal the size of a pony and strip the flesh off it in a matter of minutes.

Due to a special squirrel brain structure, recently discovered via MRI technology, they are able to read the minds of potential prey and, as it turns out, the owners of the attics they hang out in. They know all of my private thoughts, my darkest and most shameful impulses. Without the benefit of opposable thumbs* or conventional language (they communicate with each other telepathically with a mental language composed entirely of picture-symbols), they are able to employ tools, including adjustable wrenches and soldering irons. (I hear them now in my attic, adjusting their little wrenches. The malignant, vicious little beasts.) Formerly able to build only rudimentary structures out of materials stripped from attics, they are now able to design and build electronic circuitry. While we are away from our homes, they wander from room-to-room with impunity, removing the components they need from our home electronics. If your home electronics malfunction from time to time, know that it is likely due to modifications made by squirrels. (Admit it, you've already known this was true. The kind of thing you know without quite knowing it.)

In recent years, they perfected special circuitry which they have implanted into each other. According to a government study that I think I may have read last night at about 3:00 a.m. (I think I remember taking delivery of a copy of the report from a mute, translucent woman who appeared at my door), approximately 30% of American red squirrels are now implanted with electronics and approximately 45% of grey squirrels are similarly equipped. This allows the world's population of squirrels to communicate via the WI-FI networks that are proliferating in suburban and urban areas. Once the squirrel internet-based network is fully operational, they will be able to occupy not only my attic, but the attics of virtually all homes. Then, to put it bluntly, we're squirrel-screwed. Game over. It's basically gonna be like Charlton Heston at the end of that movie I think I saw, Planet of the Squirrels. "Damn you! You damn dirty squirrels!"

Dale


*Scientists say that squirrels are evolving opposable thumbs at a hugely accelerated rate. They are due to have fully functional hands by 2011. They are also expected to be able to drive cars by 2013. If you've seen squirrels driving cars already, like I have, you should know that they are driving without licenses and without the ability to reach the pedals. Yet.

P.S. Need more proof about these evil rodents? They are of the family
Sciuridae (from Greek skia "shadow" and oura "tail" i.e. "tail that casts a shadow"). And, listen, these little mofos are more than a little shadowy.

[jsluder]

...
In recent years, they perfected special circuitry which they have implanted into each other. According to a government study that I think I may have read last night at about 3:00 a.m. (I think I remember taking delivery of a copy of the report from a mute, translucent woman who appeared at my door), approximately 30% of American red squirrels are now implanted with electronics and approximately 45% of grey squirrels are similarly equipped. This allows the world's population of squirrels to communicate via the WI-FI networks that are proliferating in suburban and urban areas. Once the squirrel internet-based network is fully operational, they will be able to occupy not only my attic, but the attics of virtually all homes. ...

That explains the squirrel-lichen spam I keep getting in my inbox.