Riverside Park – Manhattan, NY
In NYC eastern grey squirrels depend on urban forests for shelter, food, reproduction etc. They use trees for nests and sometimes take refuge in tree cavities to raise their young.
New Yorkers will typically see these rodents scurrying about the city’s parks from one patch of grass to the next, but don’t realize that they contribute to the stability of the urban parks that are dependent on these small mammals.
Squirrels act as seed dispersers by caching, or digging small holes to store tree seeds and cones for later consumption. The forgotten seeds will likely germinate and nourish new trees. In this way squirrels aid with forest renewal, especially with those trees that have seeds too heavy to be dispersed by wind.
The squirrel in this picture (left) could be on his way to cach some of the seeds he collected. Squirrels tend to bury their seeds far from where they found them. This allows tree species to spread throughout a greater distance despite obstacles such as this concrete paved path that might of otherwise kept a species isolated to one side of the park.
Here (right) is a wider look at the site where I found this fella. To the right is the West Side Highway and Hudson River, and to the left is a hill leading up to more walkways and larger green expanses.
