Squirrel Flet and Sunflower Heads

[ysabetwordsmith]

Branches have fallen all over the yard from recent storms. Today I started picking up some of them, and noticed that there was a fallen squirrel flet. A squirrel's nest may also be called a drey.

Also today, I started harvesting dry sunflower heads. The small to medium ones I have hung as bird food. Those with big heads or good multiflora form I am putting in the septic garden, hoping they will reseed like the 'Autumn Joy' did last year.


This is a long view of fallen branches in the south lot.  The one in the foreground has the squirrel flet.




This is another, smaller branch in the south lot. Wind must have been blowing north to south because some of these are south of the maple tree they came from.




This is a closeup of the big green branch that fell. It's the size of a small sapling. There was a dead one almost as big, but I already hauled that away before I thought to get the camera.




This is a wide view of the fallen squirrel flet. Normally they are rounded and fluffy, maybe 2 feet wide, but the rain pounded it flat.




Here you can see some of the grass lining the squirrel flet, which is mostly made from leaves.  Outer leaves help shed rain, while grass makes a soft bed in the hollow center, just big enough for a squirrel to curl up in.  Mostly I have fox squirrels here.  I saw a young gray squirrel a few weeks ago.  They prefer treetops, but will cross open ground if they must, so occasionally we get one here.




This is a different clump of grass that was lining the squirrel flet.




This is the forest garden just outside the kitchen window, with all its birdfeeders.  The window is off to the right.  Starting at the left there is an oriole feeder that they don't like, a metal birdbath, white metal tray feeder, corncob, sunflower head, new wire thistle feeder, old thistle sock, and hopper feeder.




Here you can see a corncob, sunflower head, new wire thistle feeder, and old thistle sock.




The new thistle feeder has a top and bottom that both come off completely, so it's less likely to clog.




I took the smallest sunflower heads and strung them together. These are probably about 2" wide.  Birds can cling to them and peck out the seeds.  The sunflower seeds on these are pretty small, but small birds will like them.




I cut the stem too close on this sunflower head, so I had to tie the string around the whole thing.  Birdfeeders don't have to be fancy in order to work.

If you're wondering whether I ever use the stuff I save, like string -- Yes.  Yes I do.  Because it is useful for doing things without having to go shopping for supplies.  Even short string is useful.  I think these pieces were about 12" long, the backside of stitching from bags of bulbs; the frontside stitching is a longer string.




This sunflower head is properly tied by its stem.  You can see the seeds on this one.  They are a bit bigger than the seeds in the tiny heads.


 

Comments

[cmcmck]

Squirrel nests get called dreys here- it'd sn old word and first found in writing in the early 17th century I believe.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I saw a reference to that timeframe in one of the articles I looked up. Nobody seems to know where the term came from.

Flet means platform or dwelling. Squirrel nests likely started out as a flattened pile of stuff in the crotch of a tree, and later developed into more of a hollow ball.

[shirebound]

Thank you for sharing all of this. I see gray squirrels in my yard every day, checking out the sunflower seeds in my bird feeders and sipping at the water dishes I keep clean and filled. I'll try to spot some dreys/flets.

Try this ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Once the leaves fall off the trees, just look up. It's a big ball of leaves, hard to miss. A park should have some.

[pameladean]

Always delightful to see bits of your land.

We don't have fox squirrels at all here. There are red squirrels in the city, but less so in such a dense environment as our neighborhood. My mother, in an inner suburb, always has one or two at the birdfeeder. They are so scrappy!

Gray squirrels are everywhere. After we finally got them out of our basement, I'm once again able to appreciate them as they trundle around getting fat for the winter and yelling at the neighbors' dogs.

A favorite occupation of late-fall walks is to spot all the squirrel nests in the newly-bare trees.

P.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, I always find it interesting to see what gets revealed when the trees are bare. Many bird nests as well!

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

You can see the bones of the forest, too -- the age range diversity of the trees as shown in the comparative sizes of their trunks. A forest with many ages of trees is in better shape than one where they are all similar.