After the Japanese beetles ate many leaves off our birch we could now see a huge squirrel’s nest in the treetop. It looked like a two story unit so we called it the “squirrel condo” – however we didn’t see any evidence of squirrels hanging around.
Gary has been trapping squirrels all summer. We’ve brought fourteen squirrels to what we call the “squirrel resort” – an area twelve miles from our house. The “resort” has a lot of mature trees, a meadow and a pond…everything squirrels need to rebuild their lives away from our birdfeeders!
Even though we didn’t see any signs of activity in the nest we decided to take it down. We recruited friends to help. Gary climbed up his highest extension ladder and used a twenty-foot tree trimmer extension pole to reach the nest.
He knocked the nest and much to our surprise, two little ears and a head popped up, then three squirrels scurried away from the nest. I didn’t see where the mama went (maybe she jumped to the evergreen nearby) but I was startled as one juvenile squirrel jumped to the ground and ran close to my feet! The third squirrel, a sibling, clung to a tree branch. He looked scared and confused.
Gary began swatting to loosen the nest… the lower portion first. It disengaged but got caught in the tree branches. We managed to whack it out. Next Gary went after the larger section of the nest and knocked it out of the tree right away. It fell to the ground. No traces of the condo remained. The timid squirrel kept clinging to a branch watching our every move.
The other two squirrels must have been nearby because soon we saw the younger squirrel go back up the tree to help his brother (or sister) while the mama squirrel waited at the bottom of the tree trunk.
Eventually the two siblings came down but only the brave one ventured away from the tree. The other squirrel climbed back up.
We continued watching as the mother squirrel led her brave, young one across the street. In the middle of the road he stopped so she picked him up by the neck and carried him the rest of the way, like a mama cat and her kitten. Once safely on the other side they both scampered through the neighbor’s front yard into the back.
We kept an eye out for mama to return for her other young’un but we never did see her. Later that day we sought out the third squirrel but couldn’t see it in the tree. She must have come back while we were not watching and showed her offspring the way to their new surroundings.
It was entertaining to watch this all unfold…and no squirrels were injured during this process.
Trapping squirrels, knocking out squirrel nests…I wonder what other squirrel adventures we’ll have?
I’ve never witnessed a mama squirrel carry her young ones. How frightened they all must have been. That’s a lot of work to remove a nest and all that trapping and releasing, too. Randy said his boss has a red squirrel chewing the siding on their garage. They need a live trap…
None of us had ever seen a squirrel carry their young by the neck either. We were surprised.
Squirrels are cute and have fun antics, but not when they are bothering the birds or digging up gardens or chewing on siding!
Wow, what an adventure! I think squirrels are so industrious. I suppose that is because my last name has to do with squirrels. That is a really fun story. I hope the squirrels found a new and satisfactory home–well away from yours!!
We hope so too! Although squirrels, as I said previously, are cute with fun antics, we don’t want them living in our yard.
Awww do you hire out? I need your help in my yard?
HA. I’m sure we’re not finished here in our yard. They seem to like our yard.
Dave and I totally enjoyed viewing these photos of the most recent squirrel relocation project. We applaud your tenacity and compassion. The clarity in the “timid squirrel” photo is amazing. After you are done at Darci’s we may have a groundhog relocation job for you in our yard! I am now reading “A Gentleman in Moscow” and have dubbed him “The Count” in its honor.
Great, I like it…”The Count”.
Hope you are enjoying that book as much as we did!
Relocation…hmmm…