The question of daylight is moot. Great horned owls occasionally change perches during the day, and frequently fly to escape mobbing. The bird could have been in the water for minutes or hours. I always thought squirrels were strictly vegetarian. Donald R. Smith, Stamford, Connecticut.
Squirrels are squirrelly, and omnivorous behavior is just one manifestation.
The red squirrel, North America's smallest tree squirrel, stores cones in small caches scattered about its territory. Though runtish for a tree squirrel, a red squirrel will ferociously defend these caches. Chipmunks frequently raid the caches, and careless chipmunks pay for their indiscretion with their lives. Red squirrels, fox squirrels, northern and southern flying squirrels, and both eastern and western gray squirrels take their share of birds' eggs and nestlings. Most of them will also eat carrion.