A small, alert tree squirrel with back and sides a grayish-rust color;
white underparts. Tail is white fringed. Distinguished from the abert
squirrel by smaller size and the narrow white line around the eye.
Total length is 13 inches. Formerly known as Fremont's squirrel.
This little chickaree or pine squirrel (as he is often called) is the
chattering "alarm box" of the spruce-fir forests. They prefer the cool,
denser, subalpine forests well above the range of the tufted-ear
squirrel. Feeding chiefly on seeds of evergreen cones, they often leave
great heaps of cone debris at their feeding places. The cones they bury
for future use are often neglected and young seedling trees may thus
spring up about their storage areas.