This morning our birdhouse had a "creature" in it...it's eyes and nose were sticking out of the hole....appearing like it didn't fit inside...or was curious about me! It wasn't our normal looking squirrel, what could it be? It looked like it was stuck inside and couldn't get out...cuz it sure wasn't wanting to get away from me when I walked by, or when the dogs came near. It appeared that it tried to move/wiggle around, because later the tail was hanging out the bottom (where we lift the side to clean it out at the end of the season) The tail was different from anything we'd seen. Looking at the nose and eyes, I thought perhaps a possum (but didn't think that was the case) or a ????? I don't know what. We decided it definately was stuck...and we needed to help it out. My DS grabbed a long stick, and lifted the side to allow it to escape. Well, we got a surprise! There wasn't A CREATURE inside, but 3 CREATURES!!! And they weren't anything we'd seen before! They were squirrel-like, but DIFFERENT! They were flat!!! and had huge eyes! They climbed up the tree to get away, but weren't in much of a hurry. Eventually they climbed out on a limb up high......and flew.......glided....about 30 feet to another tree. Then climbed again, and glided/flew 40 feet to the next tree! FLYING SQUIRRELS! A whole nest of them! That was TOO AWESOME! Something we'd only read about (but knew they lived here)...now we've gotton to experience and see it ourselves! Does anyone else have flying squirrels around?
Cool! Rocky and Bullwinkle here on our mt! Awesome!
WAAAYYYY cool! How fun for the kids!
Yes we have them, but they are rather shy. It is rare to see them. Glad you got the opportunity.
WOW thats neat.
Bill
Wow!!! What an interesting surprise? Nature never fails to keep us entertained. You should find out what kind of nesting boxes they like. Maybe you can have them take up residence.
Don't have flying squirrels, squirrels and rabbits don't come to our house - too many cats. But I sure would like to see one.
How cool NO I have never seen a flying squirrell maybe they'll stick around now. Vicki
Vickster
How cool is that!!!!!!!
I have a whole lot of squirells, but have never seen a flying squirrel. That must have been a sight to behold.
Rainey
We used to see them in a huge oak tree out front until we had the tree cut down in 2001. They would come down to a small open feeder each night, I could hear them before seeing them. You can shine a light and see their little eyes shine before go to the other side of a tree, they'll return for another piece of corn each time, really cute :-) "Down Under" has Sugar Gliders, they have a pouch just like "roos" do, cute, you can get them at pet stores here.
Terry
When the first one was at the end of the limb, I expected it to just go on to the next tree, but when it FLEW!!! WOW!!! And not just one tree over, but several trees!!! It was sooo unexpected! What a surprise! THEN, it did it again but even further! Just a marvel! The other two did the same thing...to the same trees.... What a spectacular event for all of us to watch!
Wow!! I would have loved to see that! Too bad there wasn't time for pics or anything. I don't even know if we have such a thing here!
** My post has likely been edited 5 or 6 times for spelling or grammar, and is quite likely still incorrect.
I checked my book and there are both Northern and Southern Flying Squirrels. Seems ours here range over to La and up to the north border along a N-S line. The Northern is along and above the border(Canada)and go south in Wa and close to the east coast of the USA south along the mountains. They're almost entirely nocturnal. Their diet is animal matter, nuts and fruit.
The flying one was pure luck having caught it in flight! The longer part is the tail, and the "bottom" fatter area is the head/arms/legs.....
Really neat seeing this! Thanks Surferdude for looking this info up online! Interesting stuff!
Coming out of the birdhouse..."helped" out of the bird house....
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