At Home In...Tree Trunk Apartments

[Music] a surprising number of different kinds of animals make their homes in tree trunks flying squirrels live in such places throughout the year [Music] in Northern regions a dozen of them might spend the cold winter in a single cavity generating and holding sufficient heat to keep the group from freezing their food consists mainly of acorns nuts buds wild berries and insects they are marvelous climbers making use of the claws and paths on their paws for clinging to surfaces which are usually vertical and often smooth while red squirrels sometimes live in such cavities they prefer to construct a bulky nest in the branches of an evergreen the holes are originally pecked out by such birds as woodpeckers chickadees and nut hatches the large hairy woodpecker has a strong sharp beak for Excavating the hole curved needle sharp claws for gripping the bark and a stiff tail which he uses as a prop while working the much smaller downy woodpecker has a shorter beak and pecks of shallower nesting Hollows chickadees prefer rotting stumps in which the digging is easier new excavations may be easily found by checking the forest floor for the fine chips thrown out they usually Nest within a few feet of the ground both black capped and brown-capped chickadees nest in similar sites tiny nut hatches work industriously carrying out beakfuls of chips as they excavate they have sharper beaks and often make use of living trees their characteristic calls are responsible for their common name little quack [Music] sap sucker woodpeckers sometimes prefer to locate their Apartments several stories up the male and female take turns sitting on the eggs the male may be easily recognized by his bright red forehead patch and equally red throat the female has a white throat a hairy woodpecker is feeding a brood in an old cottonwood tree the buzzing of the hungry chicks can be clearly heard hookers have hatched in their Apartments too the males are particularly handsome fellow with a dashing red mustache the female lacks the red mustache marks over mate flicker chicks call even more loudly for food than to those of a hairy woodpecker the chickadees are very busy feeding their Broods too since the birds that originally Peck out these cavities tend to excavate new apartments every year the old ones become available to other tenants house rents often take over vacant Suites stuffing them full of coarse twigs starlings make their choices early and may raise more than one brood in the same hole foreign owl stands only about seven or eight inches high and is usually very tame they nest and holes previously made by one of our larger woodpeckers though sometimes heard during the daytime the resonant bell-like notes continue all night long in the spring owls have very sharp eyes and a keen sense of hearing enabling them to catch the mice voles and shrews upon which most of them live [Music] the Southwest relax in a moment and soon drift off into the world of Dreams a female deer mouse has built her nest and given birth to her family in a basement apartment Among The Roots the newly born dear Mouse youngsters are naked blind and pink the large dark eyes are visible under the translucent skin their snug nests are made of fine grass animal hair soft plant fibers and a few feathers they cool rapidly and are soon covered with dark silky fur since deer mice carry on most of their activities at night they are not accustomed to the strong light of day they usually look for darker places in which to spend the daylight hours the young deer mice leave the nest in three to four weeks they have inherited a strong urge to build a nest often pausing to go through some of the related motions they spend some time exploring the area in the immediate vicinity before moving farther and farther away it is about time for the family to break up and go their separate ways GoldenEye ducklings are hatched in tree trunk Apartments too they soon jump to the ground and joined the parent in the water of a small Lake a mother flying squirrel has taken up residence in another apartment where she has given birth to her litter the apartments have now become nurseries the three-day-old youngsters are very active constantly flexing their muscles the webs of skin which will become the wings are clearly visible on either side of the body when held head downward they immediately spread the wings if they should accidentally fall the spreading reflex should assist them in landing more gently lessening the chance of injury [Laughter] [Music] though at first naked it does not take long for the young to grow a coat of fine dark velvety fur when fully developed their wings will enable them to Glide from tree to tree in search of food since flying squirrels are nocturnal they try to avoid strong light almost as soon as the Eyes Are Open the youngsters begin exploring the tree in which their apartment is located they are somewhat uncertain at first and cling closely to the rough bark the large eyes and long whiskers are in keeping with those of other mammals which are abroad mostly at night the toes are long and slender and equipped with pads and sharp claws to Aid in climbing and clinging to the sides of trees this old stump served to shelter still another apartment a den had been dug under it probably by a woodchuck or a skunk later this Borough was used for a number of years as winter quarters for garter snakes garter snakes climb easily using the broad scales on the underside to grip the surface of the stump long after trees have fallen and their stumps almost rotted away they may serve as sweets for ants in most ants only the males and queens have wings the enormous numbers of workers are wingless when the temperature rises too high the workers carry the white oval pupae to Cuda regions below the surface the ant is our communist insect in fact there are more ants in the world than all other land animals put together the ants have excavated dozens of galleries inside this old log their extensive apartment is a network of channels when they have finished with the tree nothing will remain but fine wood dust in this rich soil new plants Will Spring to life and later new trees for yet another series of tree trunk Apartments foreign