by Laura Burfield, Greenwood Volunteer

While we humans are enjoying the deep dark of Winter, our wild neighbors are getting frisky and heading into their reproductive season. For Greenwood, this means we will have lots of baby squirrels beginning in March. Many of these baby wild ones are orphans that have lost or been permanently separated from their mother and Greenwood raises and returns them to the wild. It takes extensive, dedicated care and profound generosity from many caring people to raise these spring orphans. You can be a VIP on Team Baby Wild Ones by giving to Greenwood with monetary or in-kind donations. We need lots of supplies to help our orphaned neighbors grow up healthy and strong so that they may be released back into their wild homes. Here’s how you can help:

Baby squirrels eat a lot of tasty nummins and subsequently make a big mess with their #1s and #2s. Feeding and keeping our little ones clean is a big job and Greenwood most needs the following items:

• Paper towels (used in so many ways in caring for the animals including lining enclosures)
• Facial tissues (used as nest-stuffing material)
• Bleach
• Unscented dish soap and hand soap

Getting cleaned-up can be a little embarrassing sometimes!

While baby squirrels are growing up at Greenwood, they will have three homes. The first home is in the squirrel nursery in a small, snug “knit-nest” that is lined with fleece and shared with nursery-mates. When they get a little bigger, they stay in the nursery but move into a big enclosure with their knit-nest buddies. This enclosure has lots of branches where they practice their squirrelly acrobatics and social skills and have a nest box for snuggling with buddies and sleeping. Finally, they move to a large outdoor enclosure where they acclimate to living outside and begin to learn self-reliance in preparation for their release. Greenwood has simple, easy-to-follow construction plans for building wooden nest boxes and for knitting soft nests as well. This is a fun and family-friendly activity and a very impactful way to help these wild ones. Greenwood needs the following:

• Small wooden nest boxes for indoor enclosures
• Large wooden nest boxes for outdoor enclosures
• Knit nests 
• Fresh-cut tree branches that are free of pesticides and herbicides

Snoozing nursery-buddies in a knit nest!

Greenwood has building and knitting instructions for both wooden boxes and knit nest. Please email reception@greenwoodwildlife.org and we will send you the files!

Thank you for stopping by Greenwood Wildlife and thank you kindly for your support. Our wild neighbors need your help and your donations do make a difference. We are all in this together.