The silver maple and the squirrel: two species who go so well together. Both are much maligned, one for her strong, visible roots and shedding limbs, and the other for her extreme persistence in gathering the seeds she needs. At one time silver maples were planted routinely in front of new human homes, and they in turn gave homes to an abundance of other creatures. But the humans were fickle, as humans are, and it didn’t take long for them to decide that silver maple roots were too disruptive to manmade lawns, or that maple seeds were too messy in their manmade gutters, or that it was simply too inconvenient to bend down and remove maple branches from the paths of mowers.
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So the humans cut the maple down and planted a tree guaranteed not to drop limbs, not to shed seeds, not to attract insects, not to grow roots that would “invade” the turfgrass. But then the humans noticed that something was missing. Where were all the birds? So the humans hung birdfeeders filled with seed grown a thousand miles away and watched delightedly as the cardinals, sparrows, mourning doves and chickadees came to eat. They added more feeders and took pictures and learned to identify every species by name and by song.
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One day the humans looked out the window and saw a squirrel hanging upside down on the feeder. “Go away, squirrel!” they shouted. “That feeder is not meant for you!” The squirrel didn’t hear them, or maybe she didn’t listen, as squirrels are skilled at ignoring humans. The humans got angry, went to the store, and bought the best squirrel baffle money could buy. They went back to their home (and, in their minds, their home only), installed the baffle, and sat back behind their window to watch the birds again.
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But soon the squirrel was back, wedged around the baffle he had just chewed half-apart, happily eating seeds. So the humans got even angrier. They bought a live trap and set it outside near the birdfeeder. They were good people, they reasoned — animal lovers, even. They had a dog, they watched birds. They didn’t have anything against squirrels out there in the broader environment. But there was no place for them in their yard, which was meant for birds.
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The trap worked like a charm, and the humans drove the squirrel several miles away and released her in a field, not realizing they had just separated her from her babies, who would soon begin to starve, and not realizing the mother squirrel would be disoriented and lost, as if in a foreign land, and would soon picked up by a hawk.
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Back at home, the humans congratulated themselves on a job well and humanely done. The squirrel was in a better place, after all — an open field, and isn’t that where all animals want to go? They looked out the window, admiring the bluebirds eating the imported mealworms from a cup on platform. They didn’t think about all the native plants the bluebirds could have gathered insects from instead, like the silver maple they’d already cut down. They didn’t think about the fact that their bird seed was not just a feeding station but a baiting station, one that would become an endless source of conflict between them and the squirrels, raccoons, mice, coyotes, and even other birds who’d landed on this continent through no fault of their own but were now called “invasive pests.”
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Over in the corner of that barren yard, though, there was someone else who was already one step ahead of them, someone watching and waiting for her chance to eat at the coveted hanging diner. As the humans turned their backs to the window to go make lunch, the new squirrel came to have a nibble of her own. Little did she know that soon she would inadvertently launch Human-Squirrel War II, for the mere crime of just trying to get something to eat.
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Don’t be these humans. Nurture and plant the plants that all your wild neighbors can eat and take refuge in. Then sit back for a glimpse of nature like the one above instead — a sweet scene that has unfolded outside our front window every day for two weeks during silver maple shedding season. This is something no amount of money or fancy feeders or wildlife-watching trips can buy.
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(Video by my husband, Will Heinz.)
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Beautifully written!!! Thank you for speaking for the squirrels!
Thank you! <3
Excellent commentary! Interesting video, too (I didn’t know that squirrels eat maple seeds. Good to know). Thank you, sharing.
Thanks, Mary! <3 I think we were surprised the first time we saw, too.
I always enjoy your articles and I love squirrels! I wrote a piece for my blog on Squirrel Appreciation Day (January 21).
Hi Sue, thank you! I just read your blog and I love it. I love how you describe their sounds accompanying you while you garden – that always makes me feel like I’m among friends too. Also I like how you point out the many positive things they do that people don’t realize. It’s just amazing what you can learn by watching for even a little while. Thanks for reading and for pointing me toward your beautiful blog. <3
Would you share a link to Sue’s blog post? I’d love to read it. Thank you for your compassionate blog, too. I appreciate your advocacy for humane gardening!
I have a maple trees in my backyard. I don’t believe there’s silver maples but the squirrels are just thick and I’ve been feeding them so that I don’t pay $800 a year to clean up after the dead branches. Is there any how much how often should I feed the squirrels?
So often in teaching wildlife classes I remind all that trapping and transporting squirrels, or other creatures home owners deem a nuisance, is illegal in the state of Virginia and probably in Maryland as well. Maybe that threat would deter some of these people.
Leslie
Yes, good point. I think Virginia is more progressive on that front. You can’t relocate rabies-vector species here, but you can relocate squirrels, groundhogs, rabbits, chipmunks, etc., all you want, as long as you have a permit — which is very easy to get.
Great story, love my squirrels, the main eaters of my bird food. They are fat and sassy, and look at me when the feeder needs to be refilled. They also have their own dining table that a corn cob or squirrel food cylinder slides onto. True acrobats and bring delight!!!
Sounds like a perfect place to squirrel-watch!! <3
I don’t have a lot of squirrels where I live now, but they’re welcome. Every Fall, they routinely dig up my daffodil bulbs, bury them, and forget about them. So I find daffodils blooming in the most unlikely places every spring. They gather up all the black walnuts and bury them. Thank you, squirrels. You are such good neighbors.
Excellent! I find that they plant a lot of things for me too. I’m very grateful for their services! <3
So touching, Nancy! We don’t want to be those kinds of human beings. A question: are you planning to give an online course these days?
Hi Soledad! Thank you. <3 Yes, I probably will do another one at some point. Recently I did one for an Audubon chapter, but I didn't advertise it because they were already waitlisting people who wanted to register.
Great write up again. Silver maple is also loved by bees.
Thanks! <3 Yes, I wish I could see them, but they are too high up! Have you been able to bee-watch on the silver maple flowers? We have a smaller one in the way back that I should remember to go observe when they're blooming.
What a beautiful reflection of our connections to the trees and squirrels. I love the video so much and will show my children this evening!
Hi Nicky! Thank you! <3 I hope you guys are doing well and enjoyed the video. I was so glad Will had the camera nearby to shoot it. We kept seeing the little guys hold the maple seeds like big flower bouquets every morning! So cute. 🙂
Yep. Good story until half your silver maple takes out the power for the whole community and the other half is hanging over the bwdroom where your children sleep.
Pur silver maple is going away. Actually our yard started with 5 of them. One fell by itself, one we had removed. Part of #3 fell and we well get the rest of it out, then save for the removal of #4.
I like the trees, I LOVE their shade. My kids and I even enjoy watching the squirrels chase each other. It’s sad to see our trees go. Oh the stories they could tell if they could talk. But my kids and our house are more important amd so they must go. Trust me my income does not want them to go either. We are a single income family, and I’m just a teacher at that.
All I ask is that we aren’t too quick to judge when someone removes a tree.
Hi Jay, I’m sorry you have to remove your trees, but I understand when there is a safety concern and wouldn’t judge someone for that. However, yours is just one type of situation, and it is absolutely not representative of the situation with my neighbor’s tree — or with the many others that he has cut down. It was nowhere near the house (he has several acres), and it was healthy. He said directly that he simply didn’t like the tree’s roots because they were a pain to mow around, and also that in his view silver maples are worthless (which an ecologically unsound statement). Rather than sacrificing a tree for lawn, we should be thinking in those situations about what other more environmentally friendly and wildlife-nurturing options we might have; i.e., stop trying to maintain a lawn under trees. It’s a totally artificial environment, and we’d all be better served if we nurture native plants in those spaces instead.
Also, many people assume trees are a safety concern when they are not — and then they introduce more problems by taking away windbreaks or destabilizing other trees in the vicinity that relied in the interweaving root system. Another house on our street is a great example; the owners took down the windbreak, and two weeks later the wind came and took their roof shingles off — something that had never happened in the decades they’ve lived there. So all I ask is that people really think about their particular situation and consider whether it is necessary. Plenty of tree companies will always advise removal no matter what, which is not ethical.
In your case, I would consider saving some of the dead wood. You can line paths with branches — the woodpeckers love that, and it’s pretty. You can take pieces of the trunk and place them around in the gardens, put a pot on top or watch beautiful fungi grow and then pileated woodpeckers come to feast. You can leave short snags for bluebirds and others.
This story is so sad but we can make a better place for them all !!! I garden native plants , shrubs , trees just for them all ! They are safe in my 1 acre ,land and they can take it all . Hazelnuts , acorn , silver maple seeds , black walnuts just for them …I am proud to say animals , birds , mammals can take refuge in my yard …thanks for this beautiful story and let the animals do what they want ..we build keep building take their home and now we want to control their food !!! No way life shines for every breathing living humans animal , insects in this planet .