One of the things I have observed twice in the past three years is douglas
squirrels eating baby birds. On one occaision it was a baby junco, on
another it was a baby Robin. I did not observe either been taken from the
nest, but in both cases adult birds were actively swooping and alarm
calling. I have wondered often how much predation birds take from squirrels.
It would seem once a squirrel located a nest, it could freely take all the
young, at least from the smaller birds. I imagine a larger bird such as a
crow or hawk would be able to discourage squirrels. I once observed a pair
of crows in May diving and yelling at a gray squirrel for about 5 minutes.
The squirrel moved hastily away from the area and eventually the crows gave
up.

Any ideas about how common mammal predation on our local birds really is?

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, writer

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