WRN Kids – Squirrels

Squirrels

On Saturday September 23, 2023, our outing took place at Breithaupt Park in Kitchener. It was a beautiful fall day.

We learned about different kinds of squirrels. Black and grey squirrels are the same species and are called Grey Squirrels. Red squirrels and Grey squirrels store their food differently. Red squirrels store their food in caches while grey squirrels store each nut individually. Both ways have advantages and disadvantages.

kids around a table
Looking at squirrel foods
group on woodland path
Our squirrel counting hike

We went for a walk and tallied the number of squirrels we saw. We thought we would see more than we did and we wondered why. The most one person saw was 9. We saw grey squirrels but no red squirrels.

Squirrels eat different kinds of nuts and seeds. We saw some of the food they eat while we were walking – acorns, walnuts, beech nuts. Sometimes they eat people food which is not good for them.

We played a survival squirrel game that was a lot of fun.

kids ready to run
Squirrels getting ready to cache their nuts
kids running
And they are off...
fungus on tree

We also met with Lauren Seville from Jane Goodall Roots and Shoots who talked to us about what nature topics are important to us. We identified a few different things and will talk again about the ideas at our next outing.

It was great to see returning families. Welcome to our new families and our new volunteer Kruti.

Rachelle