SUN JOURNAL • December 5, 2025
With all the leaves off the deciduous trees, except for beeches and maybe some persistent oaks, you may be noticing various nests around that were otherwise obscured all summer. Typically, a bird nest is only used for raising young. Squirrels, on the other hand, will use their dreys throughout the year, so we can think of them as more like a house than just a nursery room. Squirrels will often have several dreys, three or more in an area, which you can think of as different rooms of their house. Most tree squirrels don’t store food in dreys, but I’ve seen them carry acorns in for eating, so it’s perhaps more of a dining room than a pantry. These dreys are used throughout the year and require maintenance. ~ Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox