The Stash
Heading out of the woods on the narrow trail, we came across another decaying tree across the path. But before stepping over it, two of us saw that there was something noticeably different and unique about this fallen tree though...pine cones....dozens and dozens of pine cones.
Neat rows of pine cones from the surrounding evergreens leaning up against the decaying trees that lay on the forest floor.
Hmmmm.
Wondering what would have placed all these pine cones so neatly against the rotting tree, we had to take a closer look.
We'd never seen anything like this before and found it quite fascinating.
However, we couldn't linger any more. The rest of our group was nearly out of sight, so after taking these pix, and seeing a good sized hole near the old rock wall, we moved on to catch up.
That evening, I sent an email to everyone thanking them for their time and how much I appreciated them sharing their knowledge with me. A good friend sent me this:
the red squirrel's favorite food are the seeds of the green cones from evergreen trees. They almost always live near spruce, fir, pine or hemlock trees because of the cones. They will also eat tree nuts such as acorns and beech nuts, seeds, berries, fungus, eggs or even baby birds. For winter food sources, these squirrels will bury some individual nuts like the Eastern Gray squirrel does, but mostly they build up large caches of food which is buried, tucked under logs or stashed in tree cavities. Buried green cones don't dry out before the squirrel wants to eat them.Large piles of cones near a log are a sign of a red squirrel cache.Source: Wildlife of Connecticut.com
just seeing, saying, and sharing...
The Stash
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