Eastern Gray Squirrel with an acorn
Sciurus carolinensis
Eastern Gray Squirrel · Prospect Park · 25 May 2026
A gray squirrel with an acorn in Prospect Park, the commonest mammal in the city's parks and the reason there are so many oaks in them.
A gray squirrel is a scatter-hoarder, burying thousands of individual nuts across its territory each autumn rather than keeping one store, and relying on a strong spatial memory - not scent alone - to recover most of them. The acorns it fails to relocate are a major reason oaks spread as far as they do. An acorn a squirrel forgets is an oak seedling with a head start.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
Every photograph comes with notes on what it is.
Selected
Favourite shots. Filter by subject, or .
Places
Everything, by where it was taken.
Species
Larger catalogue of photos organized by species of animal or plant.
Catalogue
Every photograph, newest first. Narrow it by period, place or species; the three work together.
Updates
Coming soon. Sign up at the bottom of the page for updates.