Distinguishing Features – Overall colouration, olivy-brown back and sides with blackish flecks; underside, greyish. Large, bushy tail, tawny coloured with blackish and buff highlights; eye, ringed in white, ears, tufted in red or black.
Red Squirrel Size
28 – 34 cm (11 – 13.4 in)
Habitat
Widespread throughout Northwestern Ontario in various wooded environments; prefers spruce and pine; sometimes near swamps, marshes and suburban areas.
Diet
The red squirrel is an opportunistic eater. It will feed mainly on seeds, nuts and cones of conifers; buds, flowers bark, berries, and mushrooms; also insects, eggs, mice and young of small mammals when the opportunity arises.
Notes
Red squirrels do not hibernate but stay on the ground where they are active in an an extensive system of tunnels in the snow. They feed on a cache of food stored away during summer and fall.
Although the red squirrel is vulnerable to predation by hawks, owls, marten, fisher, lynx, bobcats, fox, wolves and coyotes, its numbers are high. A female will produce a litter of 2 to 7 offspring each year (in some years, two litters).
Less-common squirrels of Northwestern Ontario
Eastern Fox Squirrel – Sciurus niger
Eastern Gray Squirrel – Sciurus carolinensis
Franklin Ground Squirrel – Spermophilus franklini
Northern Flying Squirrel – Glaucomys subrinus
Cute and Vivid Squirrel Lapel pins
If you like these red squirrels very much, please don’t hurt them and protect them. But that doesn’t stop you from keeping them with you in other ways. People often make the images of their favorite animals into vivid and lovely lapel pins, which can not only be used to decorate their clothing, bags, hats, etc., but also keep the cute animals around. So, if you are willing to try this way, you can create your lapel pins Canada as well.