Wild Foods for NRs and not yet released squirrels!

[olorin19]

I so miss Willow trees.
But we have loquats and they are just now ready to eat. My kids love them and the wilds love them as well ��

This looks like what I have in my yard - apparently works in zones 5-7 - garden center had it named as a Japanese willow -

https://www.missouribotanicalgarden....empercode=c811

It is pretty indestructible - severe pruning just makes it grow more vigorously

[olorin19]

Willow buds opening up for Saint Patrick's Day -

[olorin19]

Catkins starting to appear - wild squirrels now more actively feeding on them.

I give the Japanese willow a vigorous trimming every year after catkin season, as otherwise it would take over half my yard. This year I am going to experiment with freezing short sections of branch with catkins on them to feed next winter once fresh wild food becomes scarce. (Early last fall, when there was still growth happening, I cut and froze sections of branch that were just bark with green underneath. Guro was happy to chew on and strip these over this past winter.)

[olorin19]

Here is a branch segment where Guro has eaten all the catkins - compare to branch segment covered with catkins in previous post - Guro went through four branch segments with over 20 catkins -

[olorin19]

Afternoon snack -

[olorin19]

Williow catkins getting closer to peak - lots of wild squirrels actively eating them -

[olorin19]

We are in the midst of prime season for the willow catkins now. I harvested a large amount last weekend and froze them - I will be experimenting later in the year to see whether that works or not.

Just to give an idea of how much Guro loves these catkins -
As noted in a previous post, Guro will ignore HHB, hazelnuts, and pecans and go for the catkins first when it is breakfast time.

This morning, I got even further proof of how much she loves them -
When I was opening the cage to get her breakfast, she managed to escape. This happens a few times a month, and is no big deal. With my office door already shut, I just leave the cage open and wait for her to go back inside. Usually, it is 5-15 minutes before she heads back into her cage, as Guro likes to explore the room outside her cage. This morning, however, I had catkins in my hand when she jumped out. When I propped the door open and put the catkins inside, Guro immediately went back into her cage, grabbed a branch with catkins on it, then climbed up on a perch to eat catkins.

We are just getting into the beginning of maple helicopter season, as well as lots of other buds, which will be added to her diet as they become available.

Also, we are starting to have dandelions again, another favorite. My plan for next winter is I am going to try growing dandelions inside a container on the sun porch so she has a supply all winter. (My idea is to harvest just the tops or maybe the tops with a small bit of the root, so that the roots keep regenerating more tops.)

[olorin19]

This afternoon's snack - Dandelion and some early red maple helicopters

[olorin19]

We have been away for a week, but our wonderful squirrel sitter has kept Guro supplied with wild food while also feeding the wild critters in our yard.

[olorin19]

Guo gets some lovely Japanese maple helicopters for breakfast

[olorin19]

I harvested a large amount of small branches with willow catkins a month ago during prak season. (I trim back the willow every spring anyways, otherwise it takes over half my yard.)

These have been in the freezer since then. I got one out just now while Guro was out for play time. She ate the catkins straight away. When she went back into her cage, I gave her another catkin branch, and Guro happily carried it up to her perch for a bedtime snack.

[olorin19]

Knockout rose plus privet hedge -

[supersquirrelgirl]

We have a Japanese Maple Tree (red leaves) out front but no helicopters come from it ??

There is some bush on the house side that squirrels chewed the strings that hold it up. Then the squirrel climb-up the bush and the thin trunks bent over like a pole-vault to the ground. I don't really care about the bush but its so funny to watch them. When they let go of the thin branch, it springs back up and they have to climb-up again to get it down.

[olorin19]

We have a Japanese Maple Tree (red leaves) out front but no helicopters come from it ??

There is some bush on the house side that squirrels chewed the strings that hold it up. Then the squirrel climb-up the bush and the thin trunks bent over like a pole-vault to the ground. I don't really care about the bush but its so funny to watch them. When they let go of the thin branch, it springs back up and they have to climb-up again to get it down.

Are you sure no helicopters on the Japanese maple? They can be quite small on some varieties.

We get a similar thing with our Japanese willow - squirrels will climb out to the end of skinny branches to get the catkins, bending the branches way down. The branches are really flexible, so it does not do much harm.

Our Japanese willow sends up hundreds of sucker branches. Many of the sucker branches that start down near the ground get harvested by bunny rabbits. Not just in the spring when sap is flowing, but all throughout the growing season - they will bite the branches right off then chew them up.

[supersquirrelgirl]

Maybe the critters are harvesting the helicopters before I can see them ?? Really, I'll check again. Is this the time of year they should be dropping or maybe in the fall ??

[olorin19]

Maybe the critters are harvesting the helicopters before I can see them ?? Really, I'll check again. Is this the time of year they should be dropping or maybe in the fall ??

Should be in the spring. Around these parts, helicopter season was late April and early May. The helicopters develop before the leaves. They would be pretty hard to miss, so perhaps you have a type that does not produce them. I have to clean out my gutters every spring, and the nearest maple is 50' away from my roof.

[supersquirrelgirl]

Just checked, nothing but green leaves turning red. Its a small tree of about 20 feet so doesn't reach the upper gutters. Spring season comes around March/end and by May/middle its roughly 85 degrees. In another month it will be mid 90's to 100's until September/middle.

[olorin19]

Some clover came up within our herbs, so seeing how Guro likes it. Not surprisingly, she is initially more interested in the roots, although she has sampled leaves as well.

[olorin19]

Here is a shirt section of green branch from the Japanese willow that went into Guro’s cage an hour ago.

It actually went in frozen (harvested two weeks ago then kept in freezer), so Guro waits for it to thaw a bit before stripping the bark and the green under the bark as shown in the photo. She gets a branch like this daily. Beyond the nutrients, it is great for just plain old chewing.

Since we spread sunflower seeds under the willow, there are often pantry moth eggs on the branches. (The moth eggs are almost certainly in the bags of sunflower seeds, so we do not store these indoors either. We learned these lessons in years past - both the moth eggs in the sunflower seeds and on the willow branches.) So, we harvest willow branches into short sections then put them in freezer. Moth eggs will apparently not survive 3 days in freezer.

[olorin19]

These are from a magnolia tree down the block. We have seen wild squirrels eating them. We tried them with Guro and they are a big hit. Like many wild foods, Guro will grab one of these when given the choice between that and a hazelnut.