Re: [cobirds] Pine squirrels, Douglas County

Hmm.  I haven't seen any that I thought were out of place, but I do find them regularly as long as I can remember in the 6000-something foot range in Colorado Springs in certain places - generally foothill-type terrain or at least with a decent bit of pine even if surrounded by urban sprawl.  I have noticed a few more Rock Squirrels this year, though - not used to seeing them here.  Still not a lot, though.

Diana Beatty

El Paso County

On Sun, Dec 6, 2020 at 2:00 PM John Ealy <jrealy@gmail.com> wrote:

Pardon this peripheral bird topic, but I was wondering if any other birders along the front range have noticed pine squirrels encroaching on lower elevations.

I am  at about 6,000 feet in Douglas County, and we have had one or two present in our backyard for more than a month. I mention this only because we have had two of them in our backyard, as well as more Steller's, blue, and Woodhouse scrub jays at the same time than we've ever recorded. We haven't seen the pine squirrels in the 11 years we've lived here -- an occasional ground squirrel (Wyoming ground squirrels, I believe). I'm also seeing the pine squirrels throughout our neighborhood. 

They are very territorial, and while they don't bother the birds, they do chase off the fox squirrels -- even each other -- which is fine by me!

Here's a link to a photo from the Colorado Virtual Library of a pine squirrel in Rocky Mountain National Park. Ours look identical.

https://www.coloradovirtuallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/640px-Pine_Squirrel_7368947296-600x450.jpg

John Ealy

Roxborough Park, Douglas County, CO

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