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What Do Squirrels Like to Eat the Most? Ranked by Preference

Given a choice, squirrels take fat-rich nuts first — walnuts, hazelnuts and sunflower hearts. What they prefer, what they cache, and what to keep away.

By Salma 2 min read Save to Pinterest — opens Pinterest in a new tab
A gray squirrel on a branch with a whole acorn in its mouth
Photo: Wunderphotos1951, Pixabay Content License, via Pixabay
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Squirrels do not eat what is nearest. They eat the richest thing available and cache the most durable — that one rule explains almost every choice they make.

The preference order

rankfoodwhy it wins
1Black walnut, hazelnut, pecanHighest fat and calorie density
2Sunflower hearts, pumpkin seedsRich, no shell work, easy to carry
3Almonds, beech nutsGood fat, harder shells
4White-oak acornsLower tannin, palatable fresh
5Red-oak acornsHigh tannin — cached rather than eaten
6Corn, peanutsReadily eaten, nutritionally poor

What they eat the rest of the year

  • Late winter to spring: buds, flowers, inner bark, maple sap
  • Summer: fruit, berries, fungi, insects, the occasional egg
  • Autumn: the nut crop, most of it cached rather than eaten
  • Winter: caches, bark, and whatever a bird feeder provides

Peanuts and corn are the two popular mistakes

Squirrels will take both enthusiastically. Bulk peanuts and corn sitting in a feeder grow moulds that produce aflatoxin, and neither provides much beyond starch. If you feed, feed in-shell tree nuts and sunflower hearts in small amounts.

If you want them fed but not resident

  • Small amounts, cleared daily — not a full tray left standing
  • Well away from the house, roof line and bird feeders
  • Nothing salted or roasted
  • Stop in spring if numbers climb; a fed population grows to match the supply

Common questions

What is a squirrel's single favourite food?

Given free choice, grey and fox squirrels take high-fat tree nuts first — black walnuts, hazelnuts and pecans ahead of acorns, and sunflower hearts ahead of mixed seed. Fat and calorie density drive the preference, not flavour as we would describe it. In feeding trials squirrels consistently eat the richest item available immediately and cache the more durable, tannin-heavy ones such as acorns for later.

Why do squirrels bury acorns but eat walnuts straight away?

Because of tannins and spoilage. Red-oak acorns are high in tannin, which makes them unpleasant and slow to digest but also slow to rot, so they are the ideal thing to cache. Fat-rich nuts spoil faster, so the animal eats them now and stores the durable ones for winter. This is why a squirrel will take the walnut from your hand and bury the acorn two feet away.

What should I feed squirrels if I want to feed them?

In-shell nuts and seeds close to what they would find: hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, almonds, sunflower hearts and pumpkin seeds, all unsalted and unroasted. Add apple, carrot or a little leafy green for moisture. Keep quantities small and the spot away from the house — a reliably fed squirrel population grows, gets bolder and starts investigating your roof and bird feeders.

What should you never feed a squirrel?

Salted or roasted nuts, anything sugary or processed, bread, dairy and chocolate. Peanuts are the common mistake: they are legumes rather than nuts, are often mouldy in bulk bird mixes, and carry aflatoxin risk, so they are a poor staple even though squirrels love them. Corn is similar — cheap, heavily eaten, nutritionally thin and prone to mould when it sits out.

Do squirrels eat anything other than nuts and seeds?

Yes, and more than people assume. Their diet across a year includes buds, flowers, bark, fungi, fruit, tree sap, insects, and occasionally eggs or nestlings. In spring, when cached nuts run out and nothing has ripened, buds and bark make up a large share — which is why trunk damage shows up at that time of year rather than in autumn.

Will feeding squirrels keep them off my bird feeder?

No, it does the opposite. Feeding establishes the yard as a reliable food source and increases the number of squirrels using it, so feeder raiding goes up rather than down. If the bird feeder is the thing you care about, a baffle and correct placement — at least 10 feet from any launch point — does far more than offering an alternative.

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