Red squirrels come most winter days to eat seeds, and especially cracked corn, at our feeding station near the shore of Lake Waconia.

Soon after sunrise on a winter day at Lowry Nature Center in Carver Park, near Victoria, I counted 18 gray squirrels and four red squirrels at the feeding station. The red squirrels are smaller than the grays, have a rusty-red coat and a prominent white eye ring. The temperature was near freezing. The snow came down just fast enough to collect on their backs as they worked over the sunflower and corn seeds. Both squirrel species compete for woodland food, and both compete at the feeding station. Neither will tolerate the other on the same feeder. Although they are smaller, red squirrels apparently are better fighters. The gray squirrel will usually retreat.

Both squirrels prefer a tree cavity for shelter but will build a nest of leaves if needed. A squirrel might burrow for a nest site, usually under a tree or stump. The critter may have all three types of homes described. Reds, like grays, are active all winter but both hole up in bad weather.

Red squirrels prefer evergreen forests and, consequently, are not as abundant in southern Minnesota. Although they store cones and nuts under tree roots or in underground burrows, they will also tunnel through snow to search for nuts, or to have safe and easy access to a shrub or tree that has fruits.

The range of a red squirrels is small, seldom more than 400 feet in diameter. Like the blue jay, it is a sentinel of the forest. If anything unusual is going on in a red squirrel's territory, it responds with loud chattering and scolding.

Jim Gilbert was a naturalist for 50 years.