Where Do The Squirrels Hide In Winter?

So I woke up today to find the snow was back, in fact its still snowing as I write this which is a little disappointing as this Aussie gal could use some warm sunny days!

To be honest the snow had all disappeared and the grass was showing agin over the last week or so, so the snow came as a bit of a surprise. The squirrels had been out and about running around like crazy in the late wintersunshine and it was good to see them active again

That was until this morning. Now everywhere is covered in a blanket of snow again and everywhere has that eerie quiet about it..and there's not a squirrel to be seen.

Which begs the question...where do the squirrels go when it snows?

Now I know they have their nests..below is a pic of a squirrel nest in the garden behind mine. As you can see its a flimsy looking structure, made almost entirely of leaves held together by I don't know what. It also does not look like it could fit a family of squirrels for any period of time judging by the size of it

So do the squirrels hide there? It does not look like it would offer much shelter...but then I'm an Aussie and I had never seen a squirrell at all until I moved to Wisconsin. They are something of a novelty to me even though someone told me they were technically rodents! I think they are just adorable all the same and I love seeing them hopping around.

I do know my furry friends were looking a little skin when they were out in the sun a week or so ago. I guess like most of us they like to fatten up for winter and then try and stay as warm as they can in their dens.

Once the sunny days do return and the ground loses its snow cover I'm sure they will be back with a vengeance though. We have 2 walnut trees in our front yard and all last fall they were crazily husking them and burying the in little holes in the lawn...I think its cute..but it sure is hard to mow when you find loads of tiny dig holes where they have dug up their nut supplies after a long hard winter.

Anyway...do you know where the squirrels go in winter? How do they manage to survive when its minus 20F?

I would love to know!

Picture Credits: The pic of the squirrel nest was taken by me. The closeups of the squirrels were from pixabay.com