Do Squirrels eat baby birds??

Question

In my backyard, there is a nest on the ground, its like a burrow, it is covered well with tall grass, a evergreen like tree beside it, branches on the ground and it contains 5 baby birds recently hatched. This morning I heard the mother and father bird chirpped very loudly non stop, I went to see and saw a black squirrel ran off from where the nest is. I was afraid th sqirrel might have ate the baby birds who was just a size of a sunflower. I went to check on the nest is empty except for one baby bird still left, i looked at the baby bird it seems scared and shivering. I stand a few feet back to watch as the mother bird and father bird search around the area where the nest is for the rest of the babies.

So my question is did the black squirrel i just saw, ate the four baby birds???

Answer 1

yes squirrels can eat birds!

Answer 2

they can but they will not

Answer 3

Squirrels do not normally eat meat.  They will,  when faced with hunger and no other source of food eat bird eggs,  insects or pick at a carcass.  There are also reports of male squirrels that attempt to eat young animals such as baby squirrels, birds,and rodents.  While this is true,  it is so rare, it is not mentioned very often.  So the squirrel probably didn't eat the baby birds but there is really no way to know for sure.

Answer 4

Yes, definitely.  Squirrels are common nest predators and can and will eat eggs and baby birds from nests.

Edit:  This occurrence is NOT rare as Mikey states..I specialize in nest searching and monitoring and have seen squirrels depredate nests firsthand.  There are also MANY scientific papers written specifically about squirrel depredation on nests. Squirrels are opportunistic feeders and are going to eat a nest if they find it.  It is not going to sit there deciding how desperate for food it is and decide..."oh, I am not so hungry today..think I will leave these eggs/chicks here".  I believe my own eyes and the research by ornithologists rather than some website that tries to make squirrels look cute.

Answer 5

I don't think so. I just saw a documentary on squirrels and the only time they will eat meat ie other animals such as baby birds is if they are starving.