It’s black walnut season, and squirrels everywhere are sporting walnut-eating grins. Pigments in the nuts’ husks create stains that range from deep yellow to dark brown, and last for days or even weeks.
September 5, 2014 Squirrels N Walnuts
We’ve all been there…
That awkward moment when you realize there’s a poppy seed from the morning’s muffin wedged between your two front teeth. Or that you’re wearing a milk moustache from your lunchtime latte. Or when you find–as I have, more times than I care to count—that you have chocolate frosting smeared, clown like, about your chin and cheeks.
All of these scenarios ran through my mind the other day as I strolled through the Native Plant Garden behind the Pottawatomie Community Center and saw, not one, but two young squirrels bearing evidence of their latest meal all over their cute little rodent faces.
As they looked down from the oak tree, clucking at either each other or me, it was hard to miss their huge, walnut-eating grins.
Yep, it’s black walnut season again, and these two Sciurus carolinensis were not going to miss a minute of it.
Judging by the quantity of husks I saw on a nearby picnic table, the little gray squirrels had had quite a feast. In fact, the pile was so large, I really couldn’t picture anyone else—anyone human, that is—wanting to eat there. I’d actually tried to clean it up a bit, using a handful of catalpa pods to sweep the bulk of the mass out onto the grass.
I got the bulk of the nut “crumbs” cleaned up, but there wasn’t much I could do about the stains they left behind.
If you’ve ever lived near a black walnut tree, or have harvested its fruit, you’re familiar with the staining that occurs when the husks are split. Juglans nigra possesses an impressive array of pigments, including its namesake juglone, which can be used as a fabric dye as well as a natural coloring agent in foods and cosmetics; plumbagin, a yellow dye once used
on the hair and skin; and tannins, which act to set the dyes and make sure they never, ever go away.
Well, at least it seems that way. Black walnut stains do fade over time, from dark brown to orange to golden yellow. But when those fading stains are on your (my) fingers, because you (I) foolishly decided to remove the husks without wearing gloves, it really does seem like they’re going to last forever.
Just sayin’.
The squirrels at Pottawatomie will probably bear the marks of their walnut meal for at least a week or two. In fact, since black walnut season has barely begun, the pair are likely to indulge several more times before winter sets in. Which means their faces will stay stained for some time to come.
You may have walnut-eating rodents in your neck of the woods too. The next time you see a squirrel, look for abnormally dark coloration around the mouth. If the staining is deep, you might at first think the squirrel is injured. (I know I did when I saw this phenomenon for the first time.) But if you can get a closer look, with binoculars or the zoom feature on a camera, you’ll see that the coloration isn’t a sore, or dried blood. It’s just fur, dyed brown.
When you think about it, a walnut-eating grin isn’t really much different from a milk moustache or a face smeared with chocolate. Man or beast, we’ve all been there.
Pam Erickson Otto is the manager of nature programs and interpretive services at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center, a facility of the St. Charles Park District. She can be reached at 630-513-4346 or potto@stcparks.org.