Cavity Nest Materials of Northern Flying Squirrels, Glaucomys sabrinus, and North American Red Squirrels, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus, in a Secondary Hardwood Forest of Southern Ontario

Authors

  • Jesse E. H. Patterson Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, 33 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3B3
  • Stephen J. Patterson Hummingbird Services, 251 Queen Street South, Suite 523, Streetsville, Ontario, L5M 1L7
  • Ray J. Malcolm Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, 33 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3B3

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v121i3.479

Keywords:

Northern Flying Squirrel, Glaucomys sabrinus, North American Red Squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus, ectoparasites, nest box, nest material, nest-protection hypothesis, thermoregulation, Eastern White Cedar, Thuja occidentalis, Ontario

Abstract

Through deployment of artificial nest boxes, we examined the composition of cavity nest materials used by Northern Flying Squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus) and North American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) in a secondary hardwood forest of southern Ontario, Canada. We collected 32 nests of known species association and found that 85.7% of G. sabrinus nests and 77.8% of T. hudsonicus nests were constructed almost entirely of shredded bark from Eastern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis). Mean nest depth across all samples was 12.2 cm and showed no significant difference between species or between spring and summer nests. We review the antiparasitic properties of T. occidentalis and suggest that the use of shredded cedar bark by G. sabrinus and T. hudsonicus to line nest cavities may be a behavioural adaptation, which reduces ectoparasite loads in the nest environment.

Downloads

Issue

Vol. 121 No. 3 (2007)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright for Canadian Field-Naturalist content is held by the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club, except for content published by employees of federal government departments, in which case the copyright is held by the Crown. In-copyright content available at the Biodiversity Heritage Library is available for re-use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence. For usage of content at the BHL for purposes other than those allowed under this licence, contact us.

 

To request use of copyright material,  please contact our editor, Dr. Dwayne Lepitzki: editor -at- canadianfieldnaturalist -dot- ca