How does a squirrel remember where he’s stashed his food?
I just fed the birds, and I had half a bag of peanuts in the shell that I decided to give to the local squirrel population. I use the top of a recycling bin when I don’t want to set things right on the ground, so I poured the peanuts out onto it. It doesn’t take the grapevine long to announce that I’ve put out food, so by the time I was in the kitchen the back yard was a beehive of activity.
I stood at the window and waited to see if the squirrels would show any interest. One did. I think he might be at the top of the pecking order because none of the other squirrels went near the peanuts. Alpha found them right away, picked one up, secured it in his mouth, and charged off. I watched him repeat this procedure a dozen times or more. I know that he will move every one of those peanuts within the next fifteen minutes.
He’s buried them all within the cleared area of our lawn and gardens, on the north side of the house. Several are under tufts of grass, and more of them have been tucked into my herb garden. Some of them are under piles of leaves at the edge of the lawn, and at least one of them has been tucked into the dirt at the edge of the raised veggie bed.
But…..there are no little markers saying “Peanuts, here.” There’s nothing to remind him where he put these things under piles of leaves. HOW is he going to find them again? Thank God these were roasted, or we’d have peanuts growing all over the place this summer! I can see how the chipmunks have repopulated the dill and cosmos and tiny tomatoes, and I think it’s possible that their bigger rodent cousins have helped!
It was fun to watch, another of the gentle amusements that are a part of living here.