Daily Postcard: An Abert’s squirrel sitting on a rock holding a golden apple that fell from a tree in the garden of a home Wednesday on Barranca Mesa. Abert’s squirrels are 1.5 to 2 lbs. and can be grayish, reddish or black with white undersides. They are most easily distinguished from other squirrels by their prominent ear tufts, which are more prominent in the winter and may almost disappear in summer. Their head and body is about 12 inches long, and their tail is about nine inches. They may live seven to eight years in the wild, although there is little real data on life span. Ponderosa pine trees provide not only a home but also most of the Abert’s squirrels diet. During the summer they eat the needles, seeds, buds and male and female cones from these trees. Because they are the only squirrel that does not make food caches, they must be active all year around. During the coldest parts of the winter they will leave their nests for short periods of time to nibble through the ponderosa pine’s bark to get to the inner sap conducting layer. When possible, they also eat mushrooms and other fungi, and occasionally eat mistletoe, insects, carrion, antlers and bones. Source nps.gov. Photo by Selvi Viswanathan

An Abert’s squirrel with a golden apple that fell from a tree in the garden of a home Wednesday on Barranca Mesa. Photo by Selvi Viswanathan