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Squirrel Appreciation Day

Animal · January 21

A day for noticing squirrels: the tree climbers, nut buriers and backyard acrobats that share parks and neighborhoods across the United States.

Squirrel Appreciation Day falls on Thursday, January 21, 2027. That is 86 days away.

Squirrels are small rodents with bushy tails, sharp claws and teeth that never stop growing. Most Americans know the tree squirrels best, the gray and brown ones that race along fences and spiral up oak trunks as if gravity were a suggestion.

Watch one for a few minutes and a routine appears. Many tree squirrels bury nuts and seeds in scattered spots to eat later, and they find a good share of them again by memory and smell. The ones they forget can sprout, which makes squirrels accidental gardeners of the trees they depend on. That tail is busy too. It helps with balance on thin branches, works as a sunshade or blanket, and flicks to signal alarm to other squirrels nearby.

Appreciating them is mostly a matter of paying attention. A park bench and a little patience will show you leaps between branches, sudden freezes, and the chattering scold a squirrel gives when something below has annoyed it. Some people keep a simple log of the squirrels on their block and start telling them apart by a torn ear or a thin tail.

The kindest help is indirect. Native trees that drop acorns or nuts, a shallow dish of water in dry weather, and a yard left a little untidy with leaves and fallen branches give squirrels food and nesting material on their own terms. Their leafy nests, called dreys, are easiest to spot high in bare trees in winter.

Ways to celebrate

• Spend ten quiet minutes watching squirrels at a nearby park.
• Look for leafy squirrel nests high in bare tree branches.
• Set out a shallow dish of clean water for backyard wildlife.
• Plant or care for a native nut tree like an oak.
• Sketch or photograph a squirrel from a respectful distance.

Dates

All national days on January 21

Also on January 21

• National Hugging Day
• National Granola Bar Day
• One-Liners Day

Categories: Animal days