Got My Nut . . . I’m Outta’ Here, photo by Matt Kedzior.

Wikipedia’s Fox Squirrel entry says that the Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger) is the largest species of tree squirrel native to North America and are also sometimes referred to as the Stump-eared Squirrel, Raccoon Squirrel, or Monkey-faced Squirrel.

Fox Squirrels depend primarily on tree seeds for food, but they are generalist eaters and will also consume buds and fruits, cultivated grain, insects, birds’ eggs, and small lizards … In their regular diet of nuts, fox squirrels are classic scatter-hoarders that bury caches of nuts in dispersed locations, some of which are inevitably left unretrieved to germinate. (Matt says he watched this little guy dig around for a couple seconds in the snow and he came up with a nut that I assume he buried earlier)

Fox Squirrels are strictly diurnal, non-territorial, and spend more of their time on the ground than most other tree squirrels. They are still, however, agile climbers…

They are gregarious and apparently playful, often chasing each other up and down trees and across yards and clearings. They have a large vocabulary, consisting most notably an assortment of clucking and chucking sounds, not unlike some “game” birds, and they warn the listening world of approaching threats…

Fox Squirrels are also known for being living fossils, skeletally very similar to remains of the oldest-known squirrel, Protosciurus, from the late Oligocene and early Miocene epochs.

For more, check out the Animal Diversity Web pages on the Fox Squirrel and also Michigan DNR’s page on Michigan squirrels.

You can see this bigger in Matt’s slideshow.