squirrel after bird's eggs??? (lawn, Honeysuckle, tree, tomatoes)

[fuzzymystic]

I'm not sure where to put this question, so I'll try here! Does anyone know if squirrels will try to get in to a bird's nest and get their eggs? My neighbor has a robin's nest in her crabapple tree, and she said a squirrel was trying to get to it. I have seen the mother robin out there, not IN the nest, but by it, and I imagine-or I thought anyway-that she would chase off anything that posed a threat to her babies. I know squirrels try to get the bird FOOD, but I didn't think the birds WERE food!

[nanannie]

I have heard Racoons do this, but not squirrels, but could be.

[Northwoods Voyager]

Have never seen this. Maybe raccoons, yes, but never squirrels. As you said, bird food yes.

[fuzzymystic]

Right, I know raccoons will get in to about anything, but I didn't think squirrels were (I don't know if this is the right word) scavengers? If they were after the eggs, would that make them carniverous? I didn't think squirrels were. Basically, I kind of wonder if my neighbor's off the mark(to put it nicely!).

[BlueWillowPlate]

I've seen squirrels do it, and it was awful.
My brother said he even saw a squirrel carry off a tiny baby bird!
I think during their own nesting time, the females get *very* hungry.
One year in Denver, we had a terrible hailstorm and a lot of vegetation was destroyed. I had tomatoes ripening just inside a window, and we had starving squirrels chewing on the screen to get at them.

[pitt_transplant]

Yes...birds eat other birds too. I saw a crow attack and gobble a baby chickadee. That was pretty gross. It picked it up and slammed it on the curb and then picked it up again and tried to swallow it as another crow ripped it in half from its beak. It was like jurassic park with feathers.

[bvfguy]

Just saw a red squirrel raid a robin's nest in a large oak tree behind our house. The robins put up a good fight but the squirrel was able to knock the nest to the ground. By the time I found the remains of the nest, there were three dead baby robins that were recently hatched (no feathers yet). I am assuming the 20+ foot fall killed the babies, not the squirrel. I had never seen anything like this and that is why I did a search on Google and found this forum.

[Moonwalkr]

Yeah, it's a squirrel eat bird world out there..

[DLK55]

They're not what you would call a regular staple for them but they will go after them if they get hungry enough and there's nothing else around for them to eat. They'll even pick at a dead critter if it comes to it.

[ClaireLight]

The baby robins hatched two days ago, in my tall honeysuckle vine which is right outside the kitchen window. I watched the mom build her nest a few weeks ago and yesterday took a picture of two of the babies as she fed them. I've lived here for 13 years and I've seen robins build their nest in the most awful places where the babies are sure not to survive, which they didn't. This time I thought they had it right, safe from the inclement weather under the overhang and over 6 feet off the ground.
A few minutes ago, a red squirrel just climbed up to the nest and stole one of the baby robins while mom was out for a few minutes, ran off across the lawn as both mom and pop robin pursued and attacked the squirrel as it ran up a tree. There is absolutely no shortage of food this year, it is the most lush spring and early summer that we have had in years. I am extremely surprised to see such behavior from a red squirrel.
There must be at least one baby left in the nest, because mom is back on the nest and pop is singling his lungs out on the tree across from the nest, keeping guard.
Life in the wild but still shocking as I see fist hand a behavior I didn't know existed...I thought squirrels were vegetarian.