I’m not sure I’ve ever posted a “reader’s wildlife photo” taken with a phone camera, but this one was so nice and so unusual that I had no choice (of course, I never have a choice!). Reader Glenn sent the photo and a note:
Here’s one I snapped with a cheap phone camera without any zoom lens. I held the phone perhaps six inches from it.
I assume it viewed me as a predator. It remained motionless until I started to turn away and then it leaped into a glide to the other side of the tree. It was an exhilarating experience to watch it glide from above.
The picture was taken in Chesapeake, VA last fall. I assume it’s the southern flying squirrel Glaucomys volans.
I suspect it is, too. These are amazing animals, and I’ve never seen one in the wild, for they’re fairly rare, secretive, and largely nocturnal. A friend of mine had one as a pet, and, sadly, it died after climbing the bathroom shower curtain and gliding into the toilet (truefact).
Here’s a video showing their amazing ability to glide; I hadn’t realized how well they can steer in the air. Have a look at how they behave right before they’re about to land on a tree:
Waaaaaaay coooool!!
As mentioned here before, I had one as a pet decades ago. It showed up in my (Richmond VA) bedroom, presumably having come down the chimney flue. I was going to let it go, but when I opened the door, a c*t ran past. So, figuring that was what had spooked it, I kept him & named him Geronimo.
He almost instantly became tame to the point that he’d climb up my pantleg and emerge out my open fly. I was sharing the place with another grad student at the time, and that pretty well astonished him.
Great name: Geronimo! Won’t comment on the possible dangers of G coming out the open fly…
Well, it would have been astonishing if it _hadn’t_ astonished him. 🙂
The video was full of that nonsense you so delightfully kvetched about while worrying about the new Cosmos: “I just hope it won’t be all gimmicky and grandiose with a lot of shouting about the wonder of it all.” That is a new favorite quote of mine.
They are one of my study species! That is definitely a southern flying squirrel. Very very strange to be out in the day. I’d guess something disturbed it. They are very maneuverable while gliding. I’ve seen them make multiple 90 degree turns in dense forest. Depends on how high they start the glide from. Their landings can be less than graceful though. Many times While trapping I’ve nearly jumped out of my skin when one crashed into a tree next to me. Also I think they have to be nearly the cutest mammal but I’m biased.
Yes, I run a local tree service here and I definitely, but inadvertently disturbed it while pruning dead limbs from this silver maple. My guess is that this one was not alone.
Once it glided to the other side, it quickly hiked back up to its hollow, high rise apartment. Any branches with cavities were left for habitat.
You’re right it probably was not alone…they are quite social. During winter in Canada, where I worked, you could often get ~15 in the same cavity keeping warm.
In some of the old papers the sampling technique was to walk through the woods and gently knock on trees with cavities. If a squirrel poked it’s head out of the cavity they would then chop it down to get a hold of the squirrels.
Neat.
In Alaska we have Northern Flying Squirrels. I know a few people who illuminate a part of their decks with a red flood light and place suitable bait at a feeding station.
These squirrels rocket in seemingly out of nowhere, take their peanut and give a good show before jetting off again like base jumpers defying gravity. They are a blast to watch.
I frankly don’t know how important the color red is regarding the light source. I should try other colors come to think of it. I suspect it’s more for appeasing human eyes than enticing squirrels but I don’t know.
Cheers,
Mike
Proto-bat!
b&
Beautiful animals – I’ve always been fascinated by these flying squirrels as well as sugar gliders whom they resemble, as well as by flying snakes, flying fish and gliding frogs.
I recently came across this video about flying squids, I had never heard of those before.
We (in central Ky)have a bird feeder (or two) 2-3 feet from a living room window. For about 15 yrs flying squirrels – up to five at a time – would visit it almost every night (tho’ less in the winter). Then, suddenly, about 3 yrs ago, they just disappeared and haven’t returned. Still plenty of daytime gray squirrels. Any ideas about what might have happened to the flying squirrels?
C*t(s) or snake(s).
Hey! Smarten up. We don’t put asterisks in cats -;-))
Parkour!
Also, on “spot the squirrel” in the first image, I think I got it. Is it me, or are these getting easier over time?
I’m jealous of the places that have flying squirrels as they are just so cute!
Nice pic – esp since you used a cellphone camera!
Not that I am not fascinated by the flying squirrel but another gliding mammal that I have a fascination for as well is the colugo (misnamed flying lemur).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkKDHkwq59Y&feature=youtube_gdata_player
* Paste above youtube address into your browser address bar.
Wow! It looks like a stingray from below when it’s flying. Certainly looks like lemur up close, but if David A.says it ain’t a lemur, we’ve gotta trust him.
That’s a new one on me, thanks for the video.
I’d never seen a flying squirrel until 2012. A pair of them started showing up at the bird feeder that I keep filled with black oil sunflower seeds.
This is a picture of one of them at the feeder:
http://flic.kr/p/aGArFc
Err… 2011
I was raised in SE Texas. An uncle and cousin used to catch flying squirrels when I was a very young back in the late 40s. My uncle made a drawing once of the squirrel traps they made and I saved the plans for years, but I never tried to make one of the traps. They caught the squirrels for their hides and to eat, rather than hunt them. The traps cost less to make than shotgun shells cost when they were teenagers, right after WW II. I’m sure there are still flying squirrels in the east Texas woods, but I don’t live there any more, so I don’t know for sure.
You know, these squirrels actually DO fly a bit. They gain altitude at the end of their glide, I suppose going into a stall to slow down for landing on the tree trunk. But that is flying, I think?
Also wondering if perhaps one of us may someday in his life observe, or see a recoding, of these creatures start to flap their ‘wings’ to good advantage. 🙂
I used to live in Arlington, VA and one night out on my balcony I spotted one gliding from tree to tree. At first I thought it might have been someone’s pet, a victim of the exotic pet trade that someone had “disposed” of by setting free. I had to look it up, but sure enough, there are flying squirrels in that area, but rarely spotted.
They are just soooo cute! My sister had a family of them living in her back yard some years ago; they installed a hot tub so they could watch them in aquatic comfort. I haven’t asked about them in a while; I’ll have to see if they’re still around.