If you live on the edges of town, or out of town near nut bearing trees, you probably have witnessed squirrel wars.

Gray squirrels and red squirrels are regular visitors to feeders in my backyard. They come mainly for black oil sunflower seeds, also occasionally for squirrel blocks and various nuts that I share. Also, a few years back I erected a squirrel box high up one of my trees.

Gray squirrels have used the squirrel box, made from a plan from the Pennsylvania Game Commission, has been used almost continually since it was moved higher that the original location. Each of the past two years, a pair of gray squirrels have raised twins in that squirrel box.

Somewhat reluctantly I admit that I no longer hunt squirrels on the hill above our house. The thought of shooting mom or pop, of the Twins, disturbs me, even though I have no problem hunting squirrels elsewhere. Squirrels are tasty critters. And the backyard gray squirrels had nothing to do with me going zero for 12 shooting at squirrels last fall. My .18 HMR is well sighted. I just missed. I think. Blame it on aging eyes.

Now only one gray squirrel lives in the backyard squirrel box, probably. It can be hard to say for certain because this winter two and three gray squirrels have been at the feeders at the same time. Usually there is just the one gray squirrel.

Quite often when the gray squirrel is not feeding I can see its head poking out the squirrel box entrance or sitting on the box.

I have not yet seen a fox squirrel in our yard, although a neighbor saw one in the front yard. If there were a few hickory trees nearby we would probably have some visiting the feeders. I would enjoy watching fox squirrels up close and personal.

We do have red squirrels, although this winter there is just one, I think. It has been months since two at a time have been visible. We call that red squirrel Yahoo because of its tree acrobatics. He is nuts.

I think Yahoo lives in one of the taller spruce trees that line a tiny stream that borders the backyard.

Red squirrels are not always pleasant neighbors. They chewed on several things in our shed, including a couple of tents. Rather than trying to get rid of the red squirrels, though, I cut and affixed aluminum sheeting to openings at either end of the roof peak. That solved the problem without the ever pointless effort to get rid of the red squirrels.

When Yahoo appears he is usually leaping from one tiny limb to another. Some of the limbs are no bigger than pencil lead. When he leaps onto one of those tiny limbs the limb bends onto a deep, precarious bow. Sometimes Yahoo slips off the limb, but he always gets hold of another limb just below.

Yahoo!

And of course Yahoo does not get along with gray squirrels.

Earlier this week, Tuesday, the morning we awoke to deep, fresh fallen snow, the gray squirrel appeared first. It looked out the opening of its ‘house’ for a while before venturing outside. Then it climbed down to the large feeder.

Apparently I missed something while watching that gray squirrel. Looking back up at the squirrel box, a squirrel head was peeking out the opening. Good, I thought, now a pair of squirrels are inhabiting the box.

But no. Out came Jahoo.

Yahoo leapt onto the small, dying spruce tree that overhangs the feeder, looked momentarily at the gray squirrel, then chased away that poor gray squirrel.

The gray squirrel watched Yahoo for a few minutes from the side of a silver maple tree, then disappeared.

That was not the first time I have seen Yahoo go into the squirrel box. Last week Yahoo went into the box only to come flying out with the gray squirrel on its tail. When defending its home the gray squirrel takes to guff from Yahoo.

Why the difference?

Most critters are very aggressive about defending their dens.

I no longer wonder where the term ‘squirrely’ came from, or what it means.