page_title: American red squirrel
section_title: Feeding
hierarchical_section_title: American red squirrel / Behavior / Feeding
caption_attribution_description: English: Midden (burrow) constructed by red squirrels in a spruce/birch forest, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska
context_page_description: The American red squirrel is one of three species of tree squirrels currently classified in the genus Tamiasciurus, known as the pine squirrels. The American red squirrel is variously known as the pine squirrel, North American red squirrel and chickaree. It is also referred to as Hudson's Bay squirrel, as in John James Audubon's work The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. The squirrel is a small, 200–250 g, diurnal mammal that defends a year-round exclusive territory. It feeds primarily on the seeds of conifer cones, and is widely distributed across North America wherever conifers are common, except on the Pacific coast, where its cousin, the Douglas squirrel, is found instead. The American red squirrel is not found on most of the Great Plains or in the southeastern United States, except for the Blue Ridge Mountains, as conifer trees are not common in those areas.
  The squirrel has been expanding its range into hardwood forests.
context_section_description: American red squirrels are primarily granivores, but incorporate other food items into their diets opportunistically. In Yukon, extensive behavioral observations suggest white spruce seeds (Picea glauca) comprise over 50% of a red squirrel's diet, but squirrels have also been observed eating spruce buds and needles, mushrooms, willow (Salix sp.) leaves, poplar (Populus sp.) buds and catkins, bearberry (Arctostaphylos sp.) flowers and berries, and animal material such as bird eggs or even snowshoe hare leverets (young). White spruce cones mature in late July and are harvested by red squirrels in August and September. These harvested cones are stored in a central cache and provide energy and nutrients for survival over the winter and reproduction the following spring. The fallen scales from consumed seed cones can collect in piles, called middens, up to twelve meters across. White spruce exhibits two- to six-year masting cycles, where a year of superabundant cone production (mast year) is followed by several years in which few cones are produced. American red squirrel territories may contain one or several middens.
  American red squirrels eat a variety of mushroom species, including some that are deadly to humans.
caption: Large midden constructed by American red squirrels, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska
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