DO YOU HAVE ANY BLACK SQUIRRELS?
eli...@vt.edu
I was out boating last weekend on the New River and spotted a black squirrel,
the first I've seen in this part of the country.
The black is the so-called "melanistic" color variant of the common grey
squirrel (**Sciurus carolinensis**) and outside of a few local areas it seems
to be pretty rare. There are a great many of these black squirrels in
Washington DC, but the population there isn't native to the region: they are
descended from deliberately introduced pairs that came from Ontario in the
period around the First World War. "Black" squirrels come in all variations
from charcoal-colored to a deep, rich, shiny black with bluish highlights.
All of them seem to lack the typical white belly fur of the common grey color
variant.
I once corresponded with the Director of Rondeau Provincial Park in
Ontario--the source for Washington's black squirrel population--and he told me
that **most** of the squirrels up there are black ones, and that in the
Park the greys are rather scarce. I have since seen a number of references
that indicate that northern populations tend to be darker in general, and that
black color phase variants are much more common in northern areas. This may
be why they are so rare in Virginia.
I'd be interested in knowing if anyone has ever killed or even seen a
wild black squirrel, and if so, where it was. I've been hunting squirrels
since I was a teenager and this is the first one "in the wild" I have ever
seen in the US, not counting the ones in the District of Columbia.
BTW, there is an even rarer "russet" color phase. I saw one of these guys at
Niagra some 20-odd years ago, in a park: a beautiful red-brown coat color,
completely uniform, and with no white belly. Not an orange-brown like the
common fox squirrel, but a deep, rich red-brown like a fox. Absolutely
gorgeous, but I've never seen another. I'd like to know if anyone has seen
any like this, too.
The Elitist
Bruce Frytz
Previous message from The Elitist:
><snip>
> I'd be interested in knowing if anyone has ever killed or even seen a
> wild black squirrel, and if so, where it was. I've been hunting squirrels
> since I was a teenager and this is the first one "in the wild" I have ever
> seen in the US, not counting the ones in the District of Columbia.
>
><snip>
> The Elitist
>
A few years back, my parents took a vacation trip to New England, and
my father reported seeing several black squirrels in VT, NH and ME.
Bruce Frytz
PS: BTW, I saw an article about a southern Illinois town (can't remember
it) where there lives a population of pure white squirrels. Damndest things
I ever saw!!
JOE P.
I used to see, and shoot, several Black squirrels a year back in the
early 1970's. They were the most common seen of all the huntable
squirrels in my corner of extreme northwestern Pennsylvania.
For the last several years, in the same areas that I had seen the blacks,
I am now seeing almost all Fox sqirrels with a smattering of grays.
There are also SEVERAL red (pine? depending on local useage) squirrels
in adjacent areas. I only see transient reds passing through the
areas normally frequented by the Fox and/or Grays.
When I started hunting, my main target species were sqirrels and it
was most commonly a black, maybe a 2 or 3 to 1 ratio of blacks to
grays. Almost never a fox. I think I went three or four years before
I even saw a fox squirrel. This would have been 1968 through 1975-80 (?)
Now I end up with a ratio of maybe 3 or 4 fox to 1 gray and I have not
seen a black in the last probably 5 years.
I do not know if there is a correlation but in the same time that the
blacks got to be uncommon the winters around here also got to be very
much more mild. In the early 70's I would have to shovel my driveway
with most times at least a foot of snow each time for maybe 10 or
12 times a year. When the blacks had vanished, there were a few years
where I didn't even have to clean the driveway once all winter.
If there is a corelation, this summer should show more frequent spotting
of blacks since this past winter was a real humdinger!!!!!! Could
it be some form of natural selection which favors blacks in harder
winters, maybe they absorb more solar heat which reduces their need to
generate calories from foodstores? or maybe the harder winters cause
some hormonal trigger in the maternal (or even paternal??) reproductive
tract which predisposes a greater tendancy towards melanistic squirrels?
I would be curious to see if more black sqirrels are reportedly spotted than
in past years, especially in those areas hardest hit by winter this past
year.
Direct from the halls of Edinboro University - (814) 732-2484
and directly from the terminal of, - 142 Miller Bldg.
- Edinboro Univ.
Joe Pyrdek pyr...@edinboro.edu - Edinboro PA 16444
per UCC 1-207 (all rights reserved)
ken whitehead
I've seen quite a few black squirrels this year on my hunting property in
northern Pennsylvania. The squirrel populations in general has been down
pretty badly for the past few years, but this year the population just
seems to have exploded.
Should be good shooting this fall.
eli...@vt.edu
>A few years back, my parents took a vacation trip to New England, and
>my father reported seeing several black squirrels in VT, NH and ME.
This would square with what I have been able to find out; namely that northern
populations tend to be darker and black ones are more common in the north.
>PS: BTW, I saw an article about a southern Illinois town (can't remember
>it) where there lives a population of pure white squirrels. Damndest things
>I ever saw!!
I've seen several "albino" squirrels--or, at least, white ones. I don't know
if they were true albinos. Albinism is a fairly common genetic defect and it
results specifically from a failure of the pathway for the synthesis of the
pigment melanin. True albinos (such as the white rat of the laboratory) have
pink eyes. But an animal may be covered with pure white fur and not be an
albino--my dog is an example--and in this case he'll have normally pigmented
eyes.
But white squirrels are startling to see, no doubt. Last year I saw an
"albino" deer--again, probably not a true case of albinism, but he was pretty
much pure white--several times. Found out also there is a strong local
superstition about never killing a white deer.
The Elitist
Tim Calvin
The Elitist asked about "melanistic" grey squirrels. We have lots of
California Gray Squirrels (Sciurus griseus), but I've never seen or heard
about a black one. I have seen a melanistic mule deer, however. The State
biologist that I spoke to said that these are quite rare, about 1:100,000
births which is ten times more rare than albino muledeer births. In my
case, seeing a adult-sized animal is very rare, since these deer have a
difficult time controlling their body temperature and rarely live to
adulthood, according to the biologist.
The black animal I saw was running with four other mule deer, which helped
my confused brain sort out that I was really seeing a black deer. There are
many coyotes and wild horses and donkeys in the area, and I tried to make
the black deer into any of these before deciding it actually was a deer. It
was antlerless and average sized--possibly a yearling. I watched it travel
a couple of hundred yards about dusk. If it hadn't been with other deer, I
would still be doubting myself today. No white face and throat, no white
butt, no color variation at all--just black.
By the way, those pesky gray squirrels are chewing up all my antlers. They
even haul them up in the oak trees to gnaw on them. Talk about
"widow-makers" when the wind blows them back down...
Tim Calvin <timh...@quiknet.com>
author of CD-ROM "Tim Calvin's Hunting the West"
George Boggs
In article <m0uMbo3...@iquest.net>, Bruce Frytz <bfr...@iquest.net>
wrote:
>
> Previous message from The Elitist:
> ><snip>
>
> > I'd be interested in knowing if anyone has ever killed or even seen a
> > wild black squirrel, and if so, where it was. I've been hunting squirrels
> > since I was a teenager and this is the first one "in the wild" I have ever
> > seen in the US, not counting the ones in the District of Columbia.
The area I live in (about 15 mi west of Boulder) has lots of black
squirrels. I don't know whether they are the same species you saw. They
have big,funky cute ears.
G. Boggs
gbo...@uswest.com Evolution is cleverer than you are.
-- Francis Crick
Ken Hashimoto
Yes, Two to be exact among the population of 9 grey squirrels living
in my backyard and surrounding territories. This population count having
been taken by the rather unscientific method of placing a loaf of bread in
the yard and counting how many squirrels show up within 30 minutes.
While hunting southern NYS I have never seen a black squirrel in the
wild, although I find them fairly common in the suburbs.
My first visual experience of a black squirrel was in Washington Square
Park in NYC when I was a NYU student in the mid 70's. It seemed
at the time that about 50% of the grey squirrel population in the park
were black. We used to joke that they were the result of some college
experiment.
Ken.H
"aom@icf...@icf.hrb.com
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Subject: Re: DO YOU HAVE ANY BLACK SQUIRRELS?
Message-ID: <1996May23.153131.24665@hrbicf>
From: Andrew McElhinny <a...@icf.hrb.com>
Date: 23 May 96 15:31:31 EST
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>I'd be interested in knowing if anyone has ever killed or even seen a
>wild black squirrel, and if so, where it was.
>The Elitist
Yeap, I have had the honor of harvesting 2 black squirrels
here in PA. I live in the center part of the state where I
have never seen a black or fox. I also hunt in the Northern
part of the state. This is where I see black squirrels. I shot
both of these critters with the .22 mag. I really whish that I
had a shot gun then I could have gotten them mounted. I would
really love to have a mount with a gray, a fox, and a black
all on the same log. Tell me that would'nt be cool as heck.
Back to the subject. They are rare here in PA. But I have
noticed 2 things about them 1) they are big suckers 2) they
can take a hit. I shot one through the shoulder with a 22 mag
hollow point and that thing never flinched I thought I missed
cause if you hit a gray or fox like that, they are down. I
waited for a long time for that sucker to come back to my side
of the tree when he did I noticed it was very gingerly. I was
about ot take a head shot when he just let loose of the tree
and fell. I could not believe that he held on and moved around
like he did. Have you ever had a squirrel do that? -- Andy
DuckHunt
eli...@vt.edu wrote:
>I was out boating last weekend on the New River and spotted a black squirrel,
>the first I've seen in this part of the country.
>
>The black is the so-called "melanistic" color variant of the common grey
>squirrel (**Sciurus carolinensis**) and outside of a few local areas it seems
>to be pretty rare. There are a great many of these black squirrels in
>Washington DC, but the population there isn't native to the region:
...
>I'd be interested in knowing if anyone has ever killed or even seen a
>wild black squirrel, and if so, where it was. I've been hunting squirrels
>since I was a teenager and this is the first one "in the wild" I have ever
>seen in the US, not counting the ones in the District of Columbia.
I am in the military stationed about 60 miles west of Washington DC
and I saw two or three black squirrels in my bowhunting trips in the
local area. I even considered trying to take one with the bow, but
the thought of $8 per lost arrow/broadhead made me think a little.
I am an Arkansas native and it is uncommon to see a black squirrel in
Arkansas. In about 20 years of hunting, I have only seen two black
squirrels. Both of these squirrels were in the city limits of town.
My brother did take one black squirrel which I believe was a decendant
of the fox squirrel and not the gray. It was about 95% black, which
from a distance seems pure black. When viewed closely you could see
the reddish bits of hair around parts of his ears and feet.
Although I have never seen one in the wild, my late uncle has a white
squirrel mounted in his home. It had blue eyes (yes, blue) and
pinkish feet. It has a very light gray spot on its back about 2
inches in diameter. Other than that spot, the squirrel is perfectly
white. It is a sight to see.
DuckHunt
Bob Sochan
eli...@vt.edu wrote:
>
> I'd be interested in knowing if anyone has ever killed or even seen a
> wild black squirrel, and if so, where it was. I've been hunting squirrels
> since I was a teenager and this is the first one "in the wild" I have ever
> seen in the US, not counting the ones in the District of Columbia.
>
I've harvested one in my life. It was taken in upstate NY about 20 miles due
north of
Ithaca NY. I have a picture of it somewhere, your post jogged my memory.
--
Bob
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" DREAM ON , If you do not, all else ceases. "
(some really famous dead guy)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kurt & Brenda Schrandt
eli...@vt.edu wrote:
>
> I was out boating last weekend on the New River and spotted a black squirrel,
> the first I've seen in this part of the country.
>
> The black is the so-called "melanistic" color variant of the common grey
> squirrel (**Sciurus carolinensis**) and outside of a few local areas it seems
> to be pretty rare. There are a great many of these black squirrels in
> descended from deliberately introduced pairs that came from Ontario in the
> period around the First World War. "Black" squirrels come in all variations
> from charcoal-colored to a deep, rich, shiny black with bluish highlights.
> All of them seem to lack the typical white belly fur of the common grey color
> variant.
>
> I once corresponded with the Director of Rondeau Provincial Park in
> Ontario--the source for Washington's black squirrel population--and he told me
> that **most** of the squirrels up there are black ones, and that in the
> Park the greys are rather scarce. I have since seen a number of references
> that indicate that northern populations tend to be darker in general, and that
> black color phase variants are much more common in northern areas. This may
> be why they are so rare in Virginia.
>
> wild black squirrel, and if so, where it was. I've been hunting squirrels
> since I was a teenager and this is the first one "in the wild" I have ever
> seen in the US, not counting the ones in the District of Columbia.
>
> Niagra some 20-odd years ago, in a park: a beautiful red-brown coat color,
> completely uniform, and with no white belly. Not an orange-brown like the
> common fox squirrel, but a deep, rich red-brown like a fox. Absolutely
> gorgeous, but I've never seen another. I'd like to know if anyone has seen
> any like this, too.
>
> The Elitist
Got them in Michigan too. Both the grey variety and the black are the
same size which is smaller than the typical fox squirrel. Every once and
a while I'll shoot one that's got a white tipped tail.
Kurt
Blindeye
Yep, we've got 'em here in Syracuse! I'd say they're most common in
urban/suburban areas, but there are a few of them out in the woods.
Every season I bag two or three. I'd say probably one in five squirrels
in urban/suburban areas is melanistic, and maybe one in ten out in the
woods. Were you find one, you do tend to find others, and they seem to
be a little bit larger on average than your basic grey, or so I've
noticed. Neat lookin' critter, that's for sure!
-Bill Morey Jr.
j jackson
In <elitist.21...@vt.edu> eli...@vt.edu writes:
>
>I was out boating last weekend on the New River and spotted a black
squirrel,
>the first I've seen in this part of the country.
[snip]
When I was at UCLA, in the late '70s and early 80's, there were black
squirrels on campus. Rumour [being a student of law and not biology,
rumour is the best I can do] was that these were russian in origin and
lab escapees to boot. They were spreading thoughout west los angeles
and santa monica. They frown on 12 gauges in that vicinty, so I never
bagged one.
JEJ
CoTrustee
>I'd be interested in knowing if anyone has ever killed or even seen a
>wild black squirrel, and if so, where it was. I've been hunting
squirrels
>since I was a teenager and this is the first one "in the wild" I have
ever
>seen in the US, not counting the ones in the District of Columbia.
The Princeton University campus, in NJ, is exclusively black squirrel
territory.
Mark Anspach
George Boggs wrote:
> The area I live in (about 15 mi west of Boulder) has lots of black
> squirrels. I don't know whether they are the same species you saw.
> They have big,funky cute ears.
>
> G. Boggs
> gbo...@uswest.com Evolution is cleverer than you are.
> -- Francis Crick
These are known as Albert's squirrels. Their main habitat is
ponderosa pine. Colorado has a rather large pupulation of them.
Jet black with tufted ears.
M. anspach
ans...@fc.hp.com
Earl Perry
"JOE P." <PYR...@edinboro.edu> wrote:
>I used to see, and shoot, several Black squirrels a year back in the
>early 1970's. They were the most common seen of all the huntable
There were black squirrels on the campus of the Federal Law
Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, GA, in the early '80s. To a
southwesterner used to chipmunk-sized pine squirrels, they were
startlingly large. I was told by a ranger friend who instructed there
that they were a melanistic variant on the fox squirrel, and in fact I
saw some piebald squirrels that were patchy black and yellow-brown: a
color intergrade between the black and the traditional fox squirrel.
Mike Shearer
> my father reported seeing several black squirrels in VT, NH and ME.
>
> it) where there lives a population of pure white squirrels. Damndest things
> I ever saw!!
I live in Southern Michigan and I have 2-4 black (I mean jet black) squirrels
in my back yard woods all year long. They have been there for the last 7 years.
Also have many fox squirrels and a few greys. The black and greys are
smaller than the fox though. I know some areas have grey squirrels that
are the same size as fox squirrel.
--
Michigan
Mike
Winning is an attitude
julia o'neil-king
I grew up in NW Pennsylvania and saw numerous black squirrels.
Squirrel hunting was always a favorite for me. The majority of the
critters were grey however and I would say the ration was something
close to 10 to 1. Hope this helps and by the way they usually seemed
to jinx me!!
Smukerji
>I'd be interested in knowing if anyone has ever killed or even seen a
>wild black squirrel, and if so, where it was.
I don't know how you would wish to define "wild" in this instance, but a
black squirrel is a regular visitor to my backyard deck. I live in the
town of Greenburgh, P.O. White Plains, Westchester, NY. So if by "wild"
you mean "not tame", then the squirrel is wild. If you mean "living in the
wilds", then the critter is positively domesticated.
>The black is the so-called "melanistic" color variant of the common grey
squirrel
I would go with this, not because I know anything about it but because
apart from the color, this black squirrel looks exactly like the grey
squirrels that visit my deck (BTW this is "visit the deck" season because
the maple that overhangs my deck is seeding and the squirrels come to
gorge) -- same shape, size, and behavior -- EXCEPT for one thing. If I
disturb the "greys" (I have seen several of them at one time on the tree,
so I know there is more than one) by walking on to the deck, they head for
the wide open spaces, putting several hundred feet and not a few large
trees between me and them before they stop. But they are back to tie on
their nose bags within an hour or two of my clearing out. If I disturb
THE "black" (I have never seen more than one at a time), he takes off, and
that's the last I will see of him for the day. Amateur conclusion: the
black squirrel may be a little more wary than its more commonplace cousin,
brother, or whatever.
Subhash
Subhash Mukerji <smuk...@aol.com>
"The Almighty never deducts from a man's lifetime the hours he spends
hunting and fishing"
Jake Hodgson
Up here in Kingston they tend to the black. I'd guess about 85/15% black/grey
but I've never actually made a count. There's also a regular turnout of albino
squirrels (I usually see 2 or 3 a year) but no fox squirrels at all.
Back home (Sault Ste Marie) the black/greys are nearly unheard of and it's
entirely red squirrel country.
I've seen a few of the 'russets' over the years down in the West end of the
province, but haven't been back in awhile so couldn't say what the population
is like now.
This seems to re-inforce the idea that black is more common further north since
I'm getting close to the northern limit of their range (bordering on red-only
territory).
Ducimus!
Jake
Jake Hodgson_______________...@QUCDN.Queensu.ca______
We all have our crosses to bear. | _\| /\ |/_
Fortunately all of mine are in little | \/ \/
tubes on top of my rifles. -me | /____\
j...@szooek.slu.se
There is a north-south geographic cline (almost a step cline) in the
prevalence of the two colour morphs (black in the the north).
Biologists (some of us anyway!) attribute this to the effects of
predators selectively removing the colour morph that is most easily
seen. In the south, many of the trees have grayish bark (e.g. beech),
but as you go further north, maple trees (with black bark) dominate.
A gray squirrel on a black tree trunk is indeed much more easy to see
than a black squirrel beside him.
Alternatively, there have been suggestions that the colour morphs may
also be partially an energetic adaptation (the black ones absorbing
more solar radiation). The idea is that a black squirrel might be
heat-stressed in the hot south, but that this increased radiation
absorption would be an advantage to an animal that had to
thermoregulate in colder climates. However, research into squirrel
energetics has not found any great difference in energetics between
the morphs, and thus has not supported this hypothesis to any great
extent.
Note that both predation and energetics could be involved, or maybe it
is just chance!
John P. Ball
john...@szooek.slu.se
P.S. No, we don't have this species of squirrel here in Sweden, but
I'm from an area in southern Canada where both colour morphs can be
found... that is why I spell "colour" correctly ;-)
eli...@vt.edu wrote:
>I was out boating last weekend on the New River and spotted a black squirrel,
>the first I've seen in this part of the country.
>The black is the so-called "melanistic" color variant of the common grey
>squirrel (**Sciurus carolinensis**) and outside of a few local areas it seems
>to be pretty rare. There are a great many of these black squirrels in
>Washington DC, but the population there isn't native to the region: they are
>descended from deliberately introduced pairs that came from Ontario in the
>period around the First World War. "Black" squirrels come in all variations
>from charcoal-colored to a deep, rich, shiny black with bluish highlights.
>All of them seem to lack the typical white belly fur of the common grey color
>variant.
>I once corresponded with the Director of Rondeau Provincial Park in
>Ontario--the source for Washington's black squirrel population--and he told me
>that **most** of the squirrels up there are black ones, and that in the
>Park the greys are rather scarce. I have since seen a number of references
>that indicate that northern populations tend to be darker in general, and that
>black color phase variants are much more common in northern areas. This may
>be why they are so rare in Virginia.
>I'd be interested in knowing if anyone has ever killed or even seen a
>wild black squirrel, and if so, where it was. I've been hunting squirrels
>since I was a teenager and this is the first one "in the wild" I have ever
>seen in the US, not counting the ones in the District of Columbia.
>BTW, there is an even rarer "russet" color phase. I saw one of these guys at
Robert Sacher
There are many black and other color variations among squirrels in
Northern Illinois/Southern Wisconsin. Far in the minority but you will
see them regularly. My favorite was a black and reddish brown pattern
like a Gordon's Setter dog.
Bob Sacher
"aom@icf...@icf.hrb.com
>But white squirrels are startling to see, no doubt. Last year I saw an
>"albino" deer--again, probably not a true case of albinism, but he was pretty
>much pure white--several times. Found out also there is a strong local
>superstition about never killing a white deer.
I dont think that that superstition is local. Here in PA I
know hunters that will not kill an albino buck because that is
supposed to be your last buck. I bet if given the opportunity,
I would test out the sperstition. --- Andy
Isaac Wilder
: The black is the so-called "melanistic" color variant of the common grey
: squirrel (**Sciurus carolinensis**) and outside of a few local areas it seems
: to be pretty rare. There are a great many of these black squirrels in
: Washington DC, but the population there isn't native to the region: they are
: descended from deliberately introduced pairs that came from Ontario in the
: period around the First World War. "Black" squirrels come in all variations
: from charcoal-colored to a deep, rich, shiny black with bluish highlights.
: All of them seem to lack the typical white belly fur of the common grey color
: variant.
Black phase grey squirrels are rather common in the eastern central part
of Ohio. I have seen them around the New Philadelphia area. I have not
seen them in the Columbus area where I live. The Ohio State campus use to
have some albino grey squirrels but I don't know if any are still there.
--
Isaac(Ike) B. Wilder
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Wayne Townsend
I personally have never seen or shot a black squirrel, But I have
friends who have. I have also seen them mounted.
Tom Nagel
Dear E,
My son goes to Hiram College in NE Ohio, Portage County, I think.
They have black squirrels all over campus. Also, there is a family or
clan or whatever of black squirrels in Arlington, a Columbus suburb. The
rest of the squirrels around here are either the standard grays, the big
cat-like fox squirrels, or sometimes the mouthy little reds.
How was the New? I heard that high water flooded out all the
boating on the lower New last weekend. Maybe that black squirrel got
washed in from somewhere else!
--
_________________
|
Tom Nagel /O\ Columbus, OH
------------------------------(___)------------------------------
The Elitist
In article <4o2ip8$4...@acme.freenet.columbus.oh.us> Tom Nagel
<tomn...@freenet.columbus.oh.us> writes:
>Dear E,
> My son goes to Hiram College in NE Ohio, Portage County, I think.
>They have black squirrels all over campus. Also, there is a family or
>clan or whatever of black squirrels in Arlington, a Columbus suburb.
Interesting: I went to Kenyon College in Gambier, and frequently visit
relatives there and in Circleville (the little town that Time forgot, but the
Paper Company Remembered); have spent a lot of time in Ohio since the early
'60s and I've never seen a black squirrel there, ever.
> How was the New? I heard that high water flooded out all the
>boating on the lower New last weekend. Maybe that black squirrel got
>washed in from somewhere else!
The river was high, but boatable; and not nearly as high as it can get. I saw
this beastie on a large island near Whitethorne; at times that island can get
covered with water. It's been raining steadily here for days and I'll bet
it's a lot higher than it was last weekend...doubt if he got washed in, the
rivere hasn't been at flood stage for nearly a year. This island is big
enough that it could support a small "native" population.
Incidentally, there was a big **groundhog** on that island too. Muskrats I
can understand--they're all over the place--but how a groundhog got out there
is anyone's guess. I suspect he was born there, descended from "immigrant"
parents.
If the river comes up as high as I think it will, the geese that are nesting
there are in big trouble. We lost several nests last year when the water
covered the islands by about 4-5 feet . You can see by the debris in the
trees how high up it comes.
The Elitist
Blindeye
eli...@vt.edu wrote:
{albino squirrels snipped}
>But white squirrels are startling to see, no doubt. Last year I saw an
>"albino" deer--again, probably not a true case of albinism, but he was pretty
>much pure white--several times. Found out also there is a strong local
>superstition about never killing a white deer.
>
>The Elitist
Wow! Funny that you mention this. I saw my very first "albino" deer this past
season. We were hunting down around Penn Yann - he =
was poking around through some corn fields adjacent to a vineyard. My partner
and I saw him on the hill opposite from us through bi=
noculars. We decided not to hunt him, figuring nature had already made his life
a little more difficult, (no way to hide, except in=
snowy winters). He had a really weird rack on him, palmated in spots, gnarled
and twisted in others. He didn't really have any pro=
minent tines, it was all just kind of bent, bumpy and gnarled, with the ends
flattening out like a small plate.
-Bill Morey Jr.
Gary Claunch
In article <v01510100adca7765ac9f@[207.12.35.31]> Tim Calvin,
timh...@mail2.quiknet.com writes:
>The Elitist asked about "melanistic" grey squirrels. We have lots of
>California Gray Squirrels (Sciurus griseus), but I've never seen or heard
>about a black one. I have seen a melanistic mule deer, however. The State
>biologist that I spoke to said that these are quite rare, about 1:100,000
When I lived in SE Va. (now live in NW), we had a white squirrel. I mean
white white. Wasn't able to get close enough to see if it was a true
albino (pink eyes), but was able to tell that there wasn't any grey on
the sides or tail. I saw it at least 4 or 5 times a year for about 3
years in the summer and in the winter. Then it disappeared. Probably
easy prey to predator and so different that it couldn't find a mate that
would breed with it.
Bob Ross
DuckHunt wrote:
This is interesting. I grew up and still live in the DC area (Virginia) and
never saw a black squirrel until I visited people outside of Detroit,
Michigan. I remember commenting on how odd it was to see a black squirrel
and my friend asked, "Aren't all squirrels black?"
<snip>
Joseph & Anna Orgeron
George Boggs <gbo...@uswest.com> wrote:
>> > I'd be interested in knowing if anyone has ever killed or even seen a
>> > wild black squirrel, and if so, where it was. I've been hunting squirrels
>> > since I was a teenager and this is the first one "in the wild" I have ever
>> > seen in the US, not counting the ones in the District of Columbia.
>The area I live in (about 15 mi west of Boulder) has lots of black
>squirrels. I don't know whether they are the same species you saw. They
>have big,funky cute ears.
The black squirrels that you describe are Abert's Squirrels....They
are usually found above the 6,000 ft altitude. They are NOT uncommon
to the foothills area. There are some black Fox Squirrels here, but
they are limited to the Longmont area (as a matter of fact they occupy
only a few blocks). The black Fox Squirrels are rarer. The wildlife
center in Longmont, Colorado raised both a black Fox Squirrel and an
Abert's Squirrel last season.
Anna
Joseph & Anna Orgeron
Anna,
USAF Retired, Wildlife Rehabber, Hunter, Housewife
Joe
USAF Retired, NRA Life Member, Hunter, HVAC Tech.
"E" Mail Address: e7...@tesser.com
"I am a half-bleed Cajun, if I was full-bleed, I could not stood Myself."
Justan Wilson
Joseph L Lunenschloss
Gary Claunch <gcla...@inri.com> wrote:
Brevard, NC is regionally noted for it's in town population of white
squirrels.
joe
CWilli6247
I've seen a couple in Southern Indiana. I do have a strange looking
Squirrel that visits my backyard bird feeder on occasions. He looks
& is the same size as a Fox Squirrel except his body is totally
gray, much like a Gray Squirrel. His head & tail are the same color
as a Fox Squirrel. His underbody is pure white. The other Fox
Squirrels wont have anything to do with him & will chase him off
when he approaches the feeder. The only time that he can eat in
peace is when there are no other Squirrels around.
Black Raccoons - Two years ago I saw, while bowhunting, two raccoon
kits (?) that were totally black they were about half grown. I saw them
on several occasions. I did not see them last year at all. Neat looking
little critters.
Woody Williams
If you're too busy to hunt, you're too busy.
Mark Nelsen
We do have a fair population of black fox squirrels in eastern Nebraska
and Western Iowa along the Missouri River, particularly in the Omaha,
Nebraska/Council Bluffs, Iowa area.
Mark Nelsen
MikeBaumer
I live in Southern Michigan and we have all black squirrels
your real name
Minot, ND has quit a number of black squirrels, ie (melanistic) Whether
they are of the species carolinensis or niger I do not know because we
have both the gray and the fox squirrels here. The size would suggest they
are the niger species
Steve
Wisconsin has black squirls
SlimPick
I've done a lot of squirrel hunting in Pennsylvania, when you get into the
northern part of the state the black phase can be seen often. I venture
I've gotten about 20 in my lifetime. Nothing more beautiful than a cold
black squirrel moving across a fresh snowfall.
MCP348
In response to black squirrels,the city of Omaha Ne. has a lot of
these,running wild ,it's not uncommon to see a half-dozen not trying
to.
Ever see a white racoon?