Squirrels are far more than just furry acrobats with an obsession for acorns. While the image of a squirrel clutching a nut is iconic, their actual diet is incredibly diverse, shifting with the seasons and the specific demands of their environment. As opportunistic foragers, squirrels have evolved to exploit a wide range of food sources, ensuring their survival across varied landscapes from deep forests to urban parks. Understanding what squirrels like to eat requires looking past the bird feeder and examining the complex nutritional needs of these highly active rodents.

The Core Staples: Nuts, Seeds, and Mast

For most tree squirrels, such as the Eastern Gray and the Fox squirrel, "mast"—the botanical term for the fruit of forest trees—is the foundation of their diet. This category includes the heavy-hitters of the forest floor: acorns, hickory nuts, walnuts, and beechnuts. These items are prized for their high fat and protein content, which provide the concentrated energy necessary for a squirrel's high-metabolism lifestyle and for building winter fat reserves.

However, not all nuts are created equal in the eyes of a squirrel. Acorns from the white oak group are often consumed immediately because they germinate quickly and contain fewer tannins, making them sweeter and more digestible. In contrast, acorns from the red oak group, which are higher in bitter tannins and don't sprout until spring, are frequently buried for long-term storage. This selective hoarding is a sophisticated survival strategy that ensures a food supply during the leanest months.

Beyond hardwood nuts, conifer seeds are a major dietary component, especially for Red squirrels (often called "chickarees"). These smaller, more energetic squirrels specialize in extracting seeds from pine, spruce, and balsam fir cones. They often create large central caches, known as middens, where they pile hundreds of cones to stay cool and moist, preserving the seeds' nutritional value.

Spring Greens: Why Tree Buds Are Currently on the Menu

In mid-April, many of the nuts buried last autumn have either been eaten or have begun to sprout, making them unpalatable. This period is often the most challenging time for squirrels. To bridge the gap until the bounty of summer, squirrels turn to tree buds and flowers.

Currently, you might notice squirrels high in the canopy of red and sugar maples. They are seeking out the tender, high-energy buds and the winged fruits (samaras) that are beginning to develop. These spring foods have a high moisture content, providing essential hydration along with sugars and minerals. While it may look like they are damaging the trees, this natural pruning rarely harms healthy, mature specimens. They also feed on the inner bark of certain trees during this time if other food sources are scarce, though this is typically a last resort.

Summer Sweets: Fruits, Berries, and Fungi

As the weather warms, the squirrel menu expands to include seasonal fruits and berries. Wild cherries, mulberries, dogwood fruits, and blackberries become irresistible treats. These foods provide quick-burning carbohydrates and a variety of vitamins that aren't as prevalent in dry nuts.

Fungi also play a surprisingly large role in the squirrel diet. Many species, including the nocturnal Flying squirrel, are known to forage for mushrooms and even underground truffles. While some of these fungi would be toxic to humans, squirrels can consume them safely. By eating mushrooms and then spreading the spores through their droppings, squirrels perform a vital ecological service, helping to maintain the symbiotic relationships between fungi and tree roots that are essential for forest health.

The Unexpected Side: Squirrels as Opportunistic Carnivores

One of the most common misconceptions is that squirrels are strict vegetarians. In reality, they are omnivores. When preferred plant foods are scarce or when they need a rapid boost of protein and calcium—such as during the breeding season or while nursing young—squirrels will look for animal-based snacks.

Their carnivorous tendencies can include:

  • Insects and Larvae: Beetles, grasshoppers, and caterpillars are frequently consumed.
  • Bird Eggs and Nestlings: While not their primary food, squirrels (especially Red squirrels) are known to raid nests if the opportunity arises.
  • Small Vertebrates: On rare occasions, squirrels have been observed eating small frogs, lizards, or even carrion.
  • Bones and Antlers: It is common to see squirrels gnawing on old bones or shed deer antlers. They do this not for calories, but to sharpen their ever-growing incisors and to ingest essential minerals like calcium and phosphorus.

Species-Specific Preferences

While there is overlap, different squirrel species have distinct culinary leanings based on their habitat and size:

  1. Eastern Gray Squirrels: These are the ultimate generalists. They thrive on a mix of mast, buds, and human-provided treats in suburban environments. They are the primary "scatter-hoarders," burying individual nuts across a wide area.
  2. Fox Squirrels: Preferring more open, park-like settings, they consume similar foods to the Gray squirrel but often spend more time foraging for grains and corn in agricultural fringes.
  3. Red Squirrels: The conifer specialists. They are much more territorial and aggressive about defending their food caches. Their diet is heavily skewed toward seeds from cones and fungi.
  4. Flying Squirrels: Being nocturnal, they have a slightly different foraging pattern. They are particularly fond of tree sap, blossoms, and are more likely to consume significant amounts of protein from insects and bird eggs compared to their diurnal cousins.

The Science of Scent and Memory

How do squirrels find what they like to eat when it's buried under six inches of soil? It’s a combination of a highly developed sense of smell and impressive spatial memory. Research suggests that squirrels don't just wander aimlessly hoping to find a nut; they remember the general location of their caches. When they get close, their keen nose takes over, detecting the scent of the buried treasure even through snow or dirt. This ability to relocate food is what allows them to maintain their high energy levels throughout the winter.

Backyard Feeding: What You Should (and Shouldn't) Offer

Many people enjoy feeding squirrels in their backyards, but providing the wrong foods can lead to nutritional deficiencies or health problems for the local population. If you choose to supplement their diet, it is helpful to aim for items that mimic their natural intake.

Safe and Healthy Options

  • Hazelnuts and Walnuts in the Shell: These provide the necessary mechanical work for their teeth and are nutritionally dense.
  • Sunflower Seeds: A popular choice that provides good fats, though they should be offered in moderation to prevent squirrels from becoming too dependent on a single source.
  • Chopped Apples or Carrots: These can provide vitamins and moisture, especially during dry spells.
  • Pumpkin Seeds: Especially during the autumn months, these are a nutrient-rich favorite.

Items to Avoid or Limit

  • Salty Snacks: Squirrels cannot process high levels of salt. Salted peanuts, pretzels, or chips can be dehydrating and potentially fatal.
  • Sugary Human Food: Cookies, cereal, and candy offer no nutritional value and can cause obesity and dental issues.
  • Raw Peanuts: While squirrels love them, raw peanuts can sometimes harbor a fungus that produces aflatoxin, which is toxic to squirrels. Roasted, unsalted peanuts are a safer alternative, but should still only be a small part of their diet because they are low in essential minerals.
  • Bread: It provides "empty" calories and can expand in the squirrel’s stomach, causing discomfort.

The 2026 Context: Climate and Food Availability

As of 2026, shifting weather patterns are subtly altering when and what squirrels eat. Milder winters in many regions have led to earlier spring bud bursts. While this can provide an early food source, it also risks a "mismatch" if a late frost destroys those tender buds after the squirrels have become reliant on them. Furthermore, changes in rainfall patterns affect the "mast years"—the cyclical periods when trees produce an overabundance of nuts. These fluctuations require squirrels to be more flexible than ever, highlighting the importance of a diverse ecosystem that provides multiple types of food throughout the year.

Ecological Impact of Squirrel Eating Habits

The eating habits of squirrels are a cornerstone of forest regeneration. Because squirrels are forgetful—or perhaps just over-prepared—thousands of buried nuts are never recovered. These "forgotten" nuts are perfectly positioned to sprout and grow into the next generation of oak, hickory, and walnut trees. In essence, by following their instinct to store what they like to eat, squirrels act as the primary foresters of the natural world.

Whether they are acrobatically hanging from a bird feeder or methodically stripping a pine cone, squirrels are driven by an evolutionary need for a balanced, high-energy diet. By understanding the breadth of their natural menu—from the maple buds of spring to the protein-rich insects of summer and the fatty nuts of autumn—we can better appreciate these resilient creatures and coexist with them in our shared environments.