Habitat: Boreal coniferous forests and mixed forests.

Description: Brownish coat with a reddish wash on the back.  White belly and eye ring.  A light fringe of longer hairs run along the tail.  Longer coats are grown in the winter.

Size: 28-35cm long, 170-310g

Diet: Seeds from conifer cones, and sometimes the young bark or cambium of conifers, flowers, birds, berries, mushrooms, eggs, mice, insects and chipmunks.

Fun Facts: Red squirrels stock pile cones for the winter.  Sometimes these caches of cones can be big enough to fill a garage!

Source: Pattie, D. and C. Fisher. 1999. Mammals of Alberta. Lone Pine Publishing.