Central Park Squirrel Census Will Give City Rodents a Proper Head-Count

Volunteers will track the lives of Central Park's gray squirrels over a two-week period.

What do squirrels do all day? The Squirrel Census aims to find out by sending volunteers into Central Park who will take note of any flittering tails or acorn meals that the city's squirrels may get into.

The count began October 6 and will last until October 20, when the data will be tallied and plugged into a formula devised by "one of the world's foremost authorities on squirrels".

This is not an official NYC Parks project, but rather a self-described "storytelling project" that has taken place twice in Atlanta's Inman Park, fueled by donations and corporate sponsors. The data gathered during the census will be made into printed maps and infographics.

The NYTimes claims that the census-takers will also be recording the presence of humans and other non-squirrel animals, so I can only hope that my occasional attempts to fend off sneaking squirrels trying to grab a bite of my lunch in the park won't be notable enough to be written up in the census.