Tree rat a confirmed carnivore

[Greybeard]

While out in the woods doing a "hunter skills trail" as part of a class last weekend, the students and I heard a big commotion up in an adjacent tree. It took a little moving around for us to be able to see what was happening. A squirrel had gone up a limb and, despite the frantic efforts of Mama bird, got a baby bird out of the nest and took off with it down the power line that ran through the tree.

Some of you may recall a few months ago where I posted having seen a squirrel and roadrunner going at it on the ground. The incident last weekend confirmed that we apparently have a quite carnivous squirrel ...

 

[VARifleman]

Shoot it. It sounds rabid.

 

[Greybeard]

Yep, plans to shoot it when more time. Or trap it, then pop it.

Rabies possible of course, but if it's the same one that was in furball with roadrunner, I think it would likely be dead by now.

The sad part is we had 3 pellet guns and 2 shotguns with us at the time, but, per the rules, no ammo (other than 2" .357 CCW in my shorts). Students chunked a few rocks and sticks, but it was too late. Squirrel had the baby bird by the head ...

 

[Koobuh]

Not unusual

You just don't see it too often.

Squirrels are naturally omnivorous, and will eat baby birds/eggs etc. if they can get them. They need to in order to get enough calcium and salt to survive.

As for rabies, the behavior pattern is generally 'attack', not 'carry off and eat'. Rabies attempts to spread itself through behavior modification of its host, eventually leading to death. You are correct about the time scale, rabies is fatal within a few days of symptoms coming out.

 

[rwc]

A few years back I was in Eastern British Columbia. On the logging road leading up to the "Bugaboos" there were many chipmunk-like critters that played chicken with the logging trucks and lost. We saw more than one out consuming their flattened brethren and thought it very odd at the time. I never pegged those Cannucks as cannibals, but at least the chipmunks are. Ehhh?

 

[Chawbaccer]

Seems every spring-early summer I see out my front door, a squirrel being chased away from a tree by a mockingbird

 

[mete]

I think red squirrels go after birds more often. Check your bird houses - are there tooth marks from the squirrels trying to chew their way into the birdhouse ?

 

[Rich K]

red squirrels are nasty little buggers.My buddy;s dad shoots every single one that he sees.There is no closed season on them in Michigan.

 

[1911 guy]

Red Squirrels

I must confess to treating red squirrels as a varmint. I shoot them year round. If you let a good population get going, you soon won't have any grey or fox tree rats (got tired of typing squirrel). All of them are indeed omnivorous, but reds will make a concerted effort to wipe out other, tastier, species.

 

[Art Eatman]

The ground-dwelling rock squirrels we have in central and west Texas also will kill and eat baby birds. One made the tragic mistake of killing a baby quail in my front yard, which was a one-time event.

, Art

 

[BeLikeTrey]

OK how about some id pics

For those that would like to positively ID their RED Targets

I for one don't think I could tell the diff between fox and red rat

(but I really don't think I've seen a red one)

 

[MassHunter2190]

Reds are a lot smaller, and their tail is a lot shorter than a grey squirrels. Google images will help ya out.

 

[countertop]

I've never seen a red squirrel. Here in the DC area we have quite a few black squirrels - most of which seem to run around the capitol building (no shooting there) but no red squirrels

 

[Chawbaccer]

I got the black squirrels here too, they are a regular gray squirrel that has black fur. The reds are usually up in the mountains in WV. Lots of folks call the fox squirrel a red but the foxes are a lot bigger.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I actually published a paper on squirrel carnivory back in 1991 in the Texas Journal of Science where a fox squirrel consumed part of a baby bluejay as the squirrel was being harassed by several other bluejays and a mockingbird that were all making alarm calls while this was going on.

A couple of years later, Joan Callahan published an extensive review of squirrel carnivory with some interesting observations (Callahan, J. R. 1993. Squirrels as predators. Great Basin Naturalist 53:137-144).

In 2002, I published another paper in the Journal of the Minn. Academy of Science on carnivorous foraging behavior of a squirrel that harvested insects off the radiators in a hotel parkinglot.

It was suggested above that the squirrel might be rabid. Carnivory in squirrels is not indicative of being rabid. With some exceptions such as the Franklin Ground Squirrel that has a particular fondness for frogs, Callahan noted that in observations of squirrel carnivory, the squirrels tended to be females that were either pregnant or nursing young (not at that particular moment, but back in a nest) as indicated by the extended nipples. The purpose for this activity pertained to dietary needs. A pregnant or lactating female squirrel can become depleted of key nutrients and minerals and one way they compensate is through carnivory.

In the 1991 paper, the bird carcass was examined after being abandoned by the squirrel The key points of attack on the carcass were areas where bone was close to the skin and not covered with much muscle. In other words and based on Callahan's study, the squirrel was after the calcium in the bones.

In the 1992 paper, the squirrel was observed with extended nipples, indicating she was pregnant or lactating...matching Callahan's pattern of most carnivory in squirrels being by females in dietary distress. Note the extended nipples in the second image.

 

[Greybeard]

DNT - Interesting post there.

I've got live trap set and "baited" now. All I could find handy for "bait" out there yesterday was an old, not-quite finished bag of Chex mix I that was in with some of my hunting gear. It sounds like I maybe should have left the sack next to the trap so the tree rat could read the label about "nutrients".