A survey of the food habits of the gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) in Montgomery County, Virginia

The examination of one-hundred-thirteen gray squirrel stomachs collected throughout the year revealed a total of seventy-eight food items eaten. Only four, however, contributed more than half of the entire diet for any season. In the fall, hickory nuts (36%), fungi (26%), white oak acorns (12%), and black walnuts (10%) were the major foods. Red oak acorns (36%) and combinations of acorns, hickory nuts, and walnuts (22%) constituted most of the winter diet, followed by fungi (16%) and black walnuts (10%). Red oak acorns (26%) again headed the list for spring foods, along with a red oak-black walnut mixture (7%), elm buds and flowers (10%), and corn (9%). As a group, however, flowers composed 28% of the spring diet. Summer foods consisted primarily of herbaceous plants (24%), herbaceous buds (13%), hickory nuts (13%), and woody buds (10%).

Of the aforementioned foods, hickory nuts, white oak acorns, and fungi were classified as preferred foods; red oak acorns and black walnuts were classified as staple foods, fruits, seeds, and herbaceous plants were classified as emergency or staple foods; buds were classified as emergency foods. Flowers were unclassifiable from the information at hand.