On Monday, I watched porch furniture, Christmas decorations, shingles, and even a piece of firewood sail through the yard on the strong winds. Like many in Central Pennsylvania, I also spent a few hours in the cold and dark as branches crashed through power lines. But throughout the strong wind, I was amazed at what I saw in a tall oak tree just off the edge of the yard. About 25 feet up the tree, the leaf nest of a squirrel weathered the wind and cold apparently untouched.

The survival of that nest got me wondering -- how do squirrels build them  so strong? The first thing I learned is that  a squirrel's nest is called a "dray." It usually consists of leaves and twigs, and is lined with fur, moss and other soft, insulating materials. The squirrels loosely weave the sticks together, anchoring them to a sturdy branch and the trunk of the tree. For more information, there's a great article, with photos, in the West Virginia Wildlife Magazine.

I've also been able to watch several squirrel families grow in a den in a tree closer to the house. It looks like they took over an old woodpecker's nest. Each year, a mom moves in there and within a few weeks I see little squirrels cautiously working their ways out onto the branches. Every once in a while, the mom gets one of those "these kids are driving me crazy" looks and comes out of the den and stretches out on a branch with her feet hanging down. She looks exhausted!

I'm still in awe of the engineering abilities of these small gray animals. It's just amazing that something that looks so flimsy survived Monday's gale when so many human structures fared much worse.