Squirrels!

Northern and Southern flying squirrel

ranges in the the United States.

Range map credit:

www.flyingsquirrels.com

I couldn’t come up with a more creative title for all of the cool pictures I’m about to share. Over the course of the past couple weeks, I was able to capture 3, possibly 4, different species of squirrels on my Cuddeback Attack flash camera trap!

I believe there are a total of 6 species of arboreal (tree-dwelling) squirrels in New York: gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), fox squirrel (Sciurus niger), red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), Northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus), Southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans), and the Eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus).

I can say say with certainty that I have gotten the gray and red squirrel. The 3rd and possibly 4th species are of flying squirrel. In New York State, we have both the Northern and Southern. The maps at left show how the two species overlap into NY. Both species extend into Canada, but the Northern moreso.

Also, I should add that there aren’t any Eastern chipmunks showing up anymore this year because I believe they’re all tucked into their dens hibernating!

I modified the flash by taping

~2/3 over the flash with black electrical tape.

I recently wrote about and shared the preliminary results of messing with a nontraditional mounting of the camera, check that out here: A different perspective…. This was the trial period of playing with the flash (it’s way too bright for close range critters), and how to mount the camera (on it’s back looking up the trunk of the tree).

I got some interesting color variations of the two more well known squirrels…a black squirrel (actually a gray!) and an orange (actually a red!) squirrel. Sometimes people have a hard time understanding how this works. A squirrel that is black, should be called a black squirrel, right? Well you can call it that, but it’s genetics tell us it is the same species as the gray…just a different variation of color. I’m a blonde, you might be a brunette, a red-head, or gray. Those are all just variations of the color. Unfortunately, when people were first discovering plants and animals, they named them as they saw them. Gray squirrel, red fox, bluebird, white-tailed deer. All of these animals can and will show up from time to time a different color.

Anyway, here they are!

A black, gray squirrel.

A very orange, red squirrel.

Red squirrel again...

And most likely the same black squirrel again...

 

 

These top 4 pictures are taken from atop a cinder block at the base of the tree. That large branch at the right of the picture is where the camera was mounted for the rest of the pictures. That branch is ~8-9 feet off the ground.

Flying squirrel! Species unknown.

Flying squirrel again, species still unknown.

Flying squirrels are next to impossible to identify to the species level "in the field", as they say. Perhaps those who study flyers know a way to do so. The only way I know, besides examining their DNA, requires you to be handling the squirrel. You blow gently into their belly fur (both species have a buff colored underside), but when the hairs are parted, the Northern reveals a dark gray base to the fur. But, that's a difficult way to ID a wild animal.

A true gray squirrel.

 

The only complaint I have about these images is that because the lens is pointing directly skyward, as the squirrels ascend and descend the trunk, bits of bark come loose and drop onto the camera. The lens is recessed into the casing of the camera a little bit, so these pieces and condensation can collect here. You can see in the last picture a dark spot in the upper left hand corner. A small price to pay for some neat photos! Now that I have the flash issue figured out, I'll be messing with this angle MUCH more and trying to lure the flying squirrels in for a closer look.

 

It's a bird! It's a plane! Nope, it's a FLYING SQUIRREL!

I love when stuff like this happens!

Unexpected run-ins with wild animals that leave both parties unharmed and are both a little better off! In this case, I was just standing less than 2 feet from a flying squirrel on my porch, and he was having a nice night-time snack of bird seed.

Let me back up.

Mady and I:

 

...are roommates. We became friends at FLCC where we both attended for the past two years. We both transferred to SUNY Cobleskill together for the Wildlife Management degree this year, and are renting a house together on 8 acres of land in Schoharie, NY. It's been really fun so far, it's nice to live with someone who shares many of the same interests and hobbies, and who will talk to the birds with me at the bird feeders :) That picture above is from Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina where we took Spring Break in 2012 (we're nerds, we know). 

We love wildlife, love to see it, handle it (when appropriate...), photograph it, and study it. We have bird feeders set up in the yard, a bird house, a squirrel house, suet feeder, and an ear of corn on a spike stuck to the tree so the squirrels can't carry it off :) So we've been doing a lot of bird watching the past couple months we've been here. And squirrel watching, mainly reds and grays during the day.

BUT, one night we heard something outside in the backyard. It was a very high pitched "tsee- tseeeeee", not exactly chirping. It was dark out, but we got flash lights out and shined them on the bird feeder closest to the house and saw this:

A flying squirrel on the bird feeder!

 

So almost any given night since then, we shine the flashlights out there just after dark, and there they are. The other night Mady saw 4 at once on the tree and around the feeder! They are such a cool little critter to have around. I've heard it said that they are the most common squirrel in NY. Not sure if that's absolutely true, but there are MUCH more of them around than many people think. They're just nocturnal, so many people don't see them as often as the diurnal squirrels.

Well this evening, I ran out to the grocery store and when I came back, I walked up the steps on the front porch (porch light was on mind you) and the small bird feeder there was swinging wildly as if it was really windy...or something just jumped off of it. So I took 2 more steps up onto the platform and saw this little guy hanging onto the support!

I could not believe what I was seeing, they're usually so skittish and secretive, being creatures of the night. But this guy was in full light of the porch light, and allowed me to get very close. It was awesome. I called Mady on the phone, from the porch, and whispered to her to come to the window to see it, which she did and then it climbed into a nook and disappeared.

I came inside and told Mady my whole story (that was about 45 seconds long) and put away the groceries, and took another peek out the door to see if it came back.

Can you see him in this picture?

That's obviously the bird feeder there with the umbrella roof, and I'm standing in the doorway, and my camera is not zoomed in at all.

I took a step out onto the porch, moving slowly and quietly and was able to snap the following pictures:

Can we all agree that this little critter is pretty darn cute?

There are 5 brief things I want to mention about flying squirrels, making this post somewhat educational :)

1. Eyes: Flying squirrels have large eyes, comparatively to the size of their head. This is because they are nocturnal, and rely on those eyes to bring in as much light as possible so they can see in the dark.
2. Whiskers: Many cavity-dwelling and/or nocturnal animals have long whiskers. Often mammals who live in holes will have whiskers as wide as their body, and at the base of the whisker where it connects to the body, is a bundle of nerves called the vibrissae. These nerves are VERY sensitive, and they need to be. The head of these animals (and ours too) is narrower than the rest of the body. And if we were going head first into a hole, our head could likely fit into a smaller one than the rest of the body, but then we might get stuck once we're shoulder or hip deep. SO, these wide whiskers help to tell the squirrel: if the tips of your whiskers are touching, your big butt won't fit through. Also, they use them to feel around when feeding and navigating at night.
3. Petagium: This is probably a new word for some people reading. This refers to the flap of skin between the wrist and ankle that extends out with the squirrel is "flying". It's that dark line of fur you see in the pictures. Imagine tying a sheet to your ankle and wrist, then extending your leg and arm to make the sheet taut. This is your petagium :)
4. Flying: Now that I've said #3, let's be clear: flying squirrels do not truly fly. There's only one flying mammal in the United States, and it ain't the flying squirrel. They glide, by relying on the large surface area of the extending petagium to keep them aloft as they leap from tree to tree. I've had the joy of watching this several times, and let me tell you: it NEVER gets old. Next time you're in the woods, and you see a dead snag, bang on it a few times and keep your eyes up. You may see a flying squirrel come out!
5. Species: There are 2 species of flying squirrel in the United States, and in NY for that matter: the Northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) and the Southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans). Often, being in NY, I think of "southern" as below me on the map. Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Texas...etc. But in this case, the guides are referring to Southern North America. Rougly, the midpoint of North America is the border between Canada and the US. This is where the ranges of the G. sabrinus and G. volans overlap. And guess what, it's really hard to tell them apart. The only way I know how to, and if there are others- please share!, is you have to be handling the animal. You blow gently into the fur on the belly, and look for the color of the base of the fur. Both species have a white/creamy/buff underside, but  dark gray base belongs to the Northern, and a white base belongs to the Southern. So, in this case I can't tell which species I have living here. I could have both actually!

I LOVE these animals- such unique adaptations, and they're hard to find, unless you know what you're doing (apparently just putting out bird feeders works). I've written a few other entries about flying squirrels, including when I got to handle them last winter!

And finally, my fellow blogger and past professor, John at Backyard Beasts JUST wrote an entry about flying squirrels he caught on his camera trap! It's very cool, so please check that out at: Flying squirrel in action!


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My flying squirrel is off to the taxidermist!

Back in late September/early October, my mom called to tell me she had found "something" in the backyard, probably killed by the cats. She thought it was a flying squirrel, but wasn't sure. Well, as it turns out it was! And ironically, this semester I was working on a hypothetical Wildlife Management Plan for the Camp Warren Cutler in Naples, FOR the Northern flying squirrel. We have both the N & S flying squirrel species in NY, but this one I found I believe is the Northern. The way to tell is to blow into their belly fur. A NFS will have buff colored fur on its underside, but when the hairs are seperated, the base of the hairs are dark gray. A SFS is similar, but buff in color through to the skin. Other people say that there is a size/color difference between N & S, but I think that this can be a very variable way to field ID this squirrel. The belly fur method seems to be more tried and true.

Anyway, my squirrel has 'lived' at FLCC in the specimen freezer since he was found, and today I took him to F.F. Taxidermy in South Bristol, NY. The taxidermist there, Fred, is going to mount him on a chunk of tree for me for $90. Here's a picture of him before:

I know, not exciting or a good picture either. The after photo will be MUCH better, please stay tuned. Anyway, I wanted to give F.F. Taxidermy a plug, since Fred's been very nice, and helpful! He's even going to give me a few skulls for my collection!

I became interested in flying squirrels last spring, when FLCC's The Wildlife Society Club built and hung flying squirrel boxes at the East Hill Campus. We built two models: nest boxes and aggregate boxes. For plans and more information, visit this awesome website! It's been very helpful for our project at East Hill, as well as my in-class management project.

Here are some pictures from the day we built and hung the boxes:

In the foreground, club members Eric and Brian constructing a nest box.

Director of the East Hill Campus and Conservation professor John Van Niel explaining a brief natural history of flying squirrels.

My dear friend Becca hanging a nest box!

Conservation technician Ryan Staychock hanging an aggregate box.

So, that was in March 2011, and on Halloween this fall we went back to check on the status of the boxes. They had been hanging for less than a full year, so we weren't sure what we would find. In several of the boxes, we found nesting material that looked like it could've been brought in by a flying squirrel (we looked it up in several field guides), but who really knows. Also, the holes to the boxes are drilled to very specific sizes, to keep larger animals out, and the holes had been chewed. So that further made us unsure of what had been using them.

But THEN...on our last nest box, SUCCESS! Here is a video of the moment the box was opened.

Please excuse the ending of the video, I was eager to see the squirrel before it got away, and I forgot I was "filming". Cool though, huh? The girl on the ladder is another good friend, Bobbie Jo!

Here are some stills that club member, Adam Rogers took.

Check out that flat tail! It helps them balance, and acts as a rudder when they glide.

We also looked into an aggregate box, that is apoxied shut with silicone, with a "bendy-cable-camera-thing"...not sure of the real term for this type of camera, but it was very cool!

That's John with the camera. I'm sure you can't tell from the poor image quality, but that little monitor is showing the inside of the box. Nothing in there, as to be expected. The aggregate box is used by the squirrels as a place to keep warm in a huddle. I believe how ever many can fit/are comfortable will colonize in these boxes or in natural cavities to keep warm through the winter. As I said earlier, these boxes haven't been up a full year yet, so we were unsurprised to find them vacant.

And that is my flying squirrel post. They deserve MUCH more blogging than I have given them, especially with all the work I've been doing with them in the past year, but it's hard to keep up on all the things I want to write about. For more information about our East Hill Campus Flying Squirrel Adventures, visit John's Blog.

I will post a follow up blog after I get my squirrel back from the taxidermist. Looking forward to it!

My next posting will be all about my camera trapping "kit" that I've put together. Just some helpful things to have on hand when going out to set/check your cameras.