Why the name Freddy? Richard Proenneke was a self-educated naturalist/conservationist/wildlife photographer who kept daily journals during his nearly 30 years spent in an isolated cabin in the Alaskan wilderness. He referred to all red squirrels as “Freddy.” Since I have thoroughly enjoyed all of his journals, so do I.
A red squirrel’s winter cache of Norway spruce cones
This particular Freddy spent much of August and September cutting Norway spruce cones off branches. It was impressive how quickly it could do it. It was also especially good at having them land in a hammock.
The cones were scattered all over, but over the course of a day or two, a large pile formed at the base of the Norway spruce tree. The cone pile is called a midden. Apparently, red squirrels spend much of their time stealing cones from each other’s piles. I guess it all comes out even in the end if they steal equal amounts. Time and effort could be saved with a simple social compact though.
Conifer cones are primarily made up of scales that must be removed to access the seeds that the squirrels want. Sometimes you can see them snowing out of a tree as a Freddy has a snack.
Squirrels don’t just cache conifer cones though.
A red squirrel’s attempt at an apple cache
Nearby the spruce trees is a conveniently located apple tree. It appeared that the nearly ripe apples were slowly decreasing in number. It turned out that Freddy was caching them under a brushy spruce. These were quickly recovered as they were only partially buried.
Recollecting a red squirrel’s apple cache for human consumption
All was not lost for Freddy, however, as the cores were returned under the spruce. Still, his scoldings seem a bit more pronounced these days. Sometimes I think I even see him shaking his fist at me.
