On Thu, 17 Oct 1996, Dennis Paulson wrote:

> Hmm, here's more of that debate and puzzlement. Haven't western gray
> squirrels declined in or disappeared from many areas in Washington that
> have no eastern grays? What would they compete for besides Garry oak
> acorns, which the native species is supremely adapted to harvest? And how
> could a smaller species displace a larger one through social interactions?
> Or are eastern gray squirrels enough like starlings, rats, and people that
> they just bring a basic toughness to the interaction?

O.K., so I made a brash and difficult-to-support statement. Yes, Western
Gray Squirrels have been lost from areas without Eastern Gray Squirrels.
There are relatively few areas where Eastern and Western Gray Squirrels
have come into close contact. In Thurston County, the Marvin and Meridian
road areas have seen "the change" from Western Gray Squirrels to Eastern
Gray Squirrels that corresponded with a period of extensive residential
development. Residents of a couple of the new housing subdivisions observed
the gradual disappearance of the Westerns at the same time that the Easterns
became more numerous. Once again, the habitat changes (streets and houses)
may have driven out the Westerns and encouraged the Easterns. So, competitive
interactions between the two species may have little or nothing to do with
the change.

Easterns are reportedly more agressive than Western Gray Squirrels and may be
capable of intimidating the larger Westerns into vacating the territory but
this is speculative at best. Eastern Gray Squirrels are reportedly being
seen with greater frequency within the domain of Western Gray Squirrels on
Fort Lewis Military Reservation and Easterns are also continuing to expand
east through the Columbia River gorge toward the Western Gray Squirrel habitat
in that region. So, we may be learning more about interactions between the
two species.

Kelly McAllister