About a month ago, a hiker at Sand Ridge Nature Center in South Holland spotted a small creature with reddish brown fur scurrying up the trunk of a long-needled pine tree.
“At first we thought it might be a fox squirrel, but the red squirrel has a more chittery call with a descending trill, versus the fox squirrel’s trippy, barky, whining sounds,” said Alex Palmer, a Forest Preserves of Cook County naturalist. “It’s also smaller than a fox squirrel, between the size of an eastern gray squirrel and a chipmunk.”
This “stereotypic cute squirrel” has “a Napoleon complex,” Palmer said. “He’s quite aggressive and very territorial. A red squirrel will chase down animals twice their size to protect their territory.”
Palmer doesn’t know for sure if the squirrel is male or female, but he is certain the animal is a bit of a rarity in Cook County.
The red squirrel is also the first Palmer has seen in his six years working at Sand Ridge. The species’ recent appearance could be a sign that Tamiasciurus hudsonicus, once native to the northeast quadrant of Illinois, is continuing to make a comeback.
Prior to European settlement, red squirrels were abundant in the Great Lakes region, according to a March 2008 issue of Outdoor Living Wildlife Journal, posted on the Illinois Department of Natural Resources website. The species populated Illinois from the Wisconsin state line as far south as Hennepin in Putnam County.
Red squirrels tend to gravitate to forests of pine, conifers and evergreens that produce needles instead of leaves, cones instead of flowers. Due to the clearing away of Illinois’ natural pine forests for farming, by 1910 the state’s smallest tree squirrel was thought to be locally extinct.
In the 1970s, hunters and naturalists began seeing red squirrels once again near Kankakee and Momence. Some 30 years later, the Illinois DNR partnered with Eastern Illinois University to study their genetic origins to help inform possible wildlife protection measures.
The resulting 2006-2007 study focused on a seven-county region south of Chicago and found the red squirrels reappearing in Illinois were closely related to the red squirrels of Indiana and southern Michigan. It also determined the scrappy creatures were making a gradual comeback on their own, regardless of disruptions in pine forest habitats because they were able to survive on a diverse diet that also includes nuts, bark lining and buds from deciduous trees as well as seeds and insects.
It makes sense, Palmer said, that red squirrels from Indiana would feel at home at Sand Ridge. Many of the same plants that thrive at Sand Ridge — which rests on an ancient sandy beach ridge — can be found at Indiana Dunes National Park, which has the fourth most diverse plant population of any national park.
The red squirrel at Sand Ridge spends much of his time perched in the lower branches of a black cherry tree that is native to Illinois. The tree is where Palmer photographed him with his cellphone for Sand Ridge’s Facebook page.
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Still, Palmer believes the rodent is attracted to the surrounding plantation of red and white pines, which once served as a wind break for farm crops. The trees line the western edge of old asparagus beds that the Forest Preserves restored to prairie habitat in the 1970s.
Right now, the red squirrel is doing what squirrels do best — squirreling away a winter’s stash of acorns, black walnuts and hickory nuts in the crevices of trees and burying nuts in the ground.
“Squirrels serve a really important role in the ecosystem, because they don’t always remember where they put the nuts and then a tree sprouts,” Palmer said. “This one’s eating a lot right now in preparation for winter. It’s funny to watch a tiny squirrel with a walnut in its mouth.”
And along with its nimble cousins, the eastern gray squirrel and fox squirrel, it is an impressive acrobat. All three are known to raid the bird feeder at Sand Ridge, Palmer said.
“There’s really no not-feeding the squirrels,” Palmer said. “It’s better to accept that if you’re feeding the birds, you’re going to feed a few squirrels.”
Visitors have the best chance of seeing the red squirrel mornings and afternoons at the entrance of the Pines walking trail directly south of the Sand Ridge visitor center, 15891 Paxton Ave., where walking trails, outdoor exhibits and restrooms remain open.
Sand Ridge’s woodlands, prairies and wetland habitats are home to several other native creatures, including woodpeckers, cranes, opossums, bats, snakes, turtles and raccoons. Sand Ridge also rests within flying squirrel territory, though none have been spotted lately, Palmer said.
A wild turkey, great horned owl and red-tailed hawk can be viewed in outdoor exhibits to the north of the visitor center. “The birds were injured or imprinted in such away, they wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild,” Palmer said. “So, we’ve kept them to serve as ambassadors for their species.”
Spreading his dark iridescent plumage and fanning its impressive tail, the wild turkey — once suggested as the symbol for the United States and favored by Native Americans and European settlers as Thanksgiving fare — is safe for the upcoming holiday. Much like the spunky red squirrel, he seems to appreciate life at Sand Ridge.
Susan DeGrane is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.