PORTLAND, Maine - There's a bumper crop of squirrels in New England, and the frenetic critters are frustrating farmers by chomping their way through apple orchards, pumpkin patches and corn fields. The varmints are fattening themselves for winter while destroying the crops with bite marks. Robert Randall, who has a 60-acre orchard in Standish, Maine, said he's never seen anything like it. "They're eating the pumpkins. They're eating the apples. They're raising some hell this year. It's the worst I've ever seen," he said. Evidence of the squirrel population explosion is plain to see along New England's highways, where the critters are becoming roadkill. Last year, there was a bumper crop of acorns and other food that contributed to a larger-than-normal squirrel population this summer across the region, said Rob Calvert, wildlife biologist from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. This summer, there's not as much food, so the squirrels are looking for nutrition wherever they can find it, including farms, Calvert said. New England is home to both red and gray squirrels. Known for their bushy tails, the rodents are a common sight in city parks and backyards, and people enjoy watching their frenetic movements. They eat everything from beechnuts and acorns to berries and seeds. And, apparently, apples, peaches, high-bush blueberries, pumpkins and gourds. In New Hampshire, squirrels have been raiding corn fields, dragging away ears. "It is crazy. You see squirrel tails everywhere," said Greg Sweetser, who has a boutique apple orchard in Cumberland Center, Maine. In the past, he said, squirrels have sometimes nibbled on apples that had fallen to the ground. But this season they're skittering into the trees, scurrying to and fro, and making their mark. Oftentimes, the squirrels will take a single bite, then move on. But a single bite is all it takes to ruin fruit. - AP