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| FLYING SQUIRRELS ARE FOR REAL by Howard L. Greer |
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All Photos and Videos by H.L. Greer -- Initial background Sound " flying squirrel chatter" recorded at this feeder tree
Most people live their lives only vaguely aware that flying squirrels actually exist. They are perhaps something remembered from adolescence , a text book picture , or even from the Rocky and Bullwinkle TV show. But when you ask the question "have you ever seen a flying squirrel live with your own eyes", at least 90 percent will say no. But they are here , sometimes right in your own backyard.
This is a story about a unusual little animal which I have very recently discovered. Isn't it amazing how sometimes you find something new about your surroundings which may have been there all along, and somehow managed to elude your awareness.
A couple of Springs ago I became acquainted with this animal wonder and have been strangely mesmerized by the implausibility of this adorable little neighbor.
They are after all, hard to believe. You know, like the first time you saw a comet streaking across a clear dark sky, or the first time you saw Old Faithful gushing forth, or the first breathtaking view, standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon. That must be it, the feeling that comes with our first personal contact with those wonders that challenge our sense of order and extend our own personal realism to new plateaus.
They don't really fly of course, they sail. But do they ever! They are really smaller than I expected them to be. About chipmunk size. They are strictly nocturnal and my sightings have all been well past dusk. The good news is that they have taken up residence in our back yard, at least for the time being.
We are blessed with an ample number of old stand trees in our back yard, and have a yard swing between two large oaks.
The spring of 1993 had not been a particularly warm one and my wife and I took advantage of the first reasonably balmy evening in early April to test the comfort of the swing beneath the oaks while speculating on the budding trees and emerging grass. The last gray tones of dusk were fading into darkness when my wife detected rustling sounds overhead and asked what it might be. I instinctively replied that it must be a bird . Continued sounds directed our gaze to an area about ten feet up the Oak to our front. When I first detected the movement and then a life form, I thought first ,bird, then bat. It had a face and it was looking at us. It became obvious that it was a fur bearer and it was hanging on the trunk stationary but heading down. Then it flew!
It flew right over us and I was sure it was a bat. We exited the swing as one, reaching the safety of the walk simultaneously. It was here we observed the thing, now on the trunk of the other oak tree. The post lamp provided enough illumination and slowly it became apparent that our little surprise was not a threat. We stood there and watched as he leaped and floated back to the original tree. As we watched we discovered a second one floating from tree to tree. I went for my camcorder. Those little guys obliged us by coming down to eye level on the oak and I was able to record close up within three feet of these airborne miniatures.
The First Contact - The Streaming Video
One thing you
notice, is that when they leap and spread the web like membrane
,they appear to float. They seem to be able to fly upward and can
achieve substantial distance. (Several hundred feet). They seem to
defy gravity. I have seen flying fish and they give you the same
sensation, that is , it just doesn't look quite right.
It was delightful, to think, that after 57 years, and potentially countless near miss encounters, a wonderful first had occurred for the both of us. (Pleasant firsts, at our time in life, are to be cherished.) We assumed since it took so long for us to see them for the first time, that it would take an equal time to ever encounter them again. We were wrong.
They came
night after night , always just at dusk. I put up a squirrel
feeder and soon discovered they considered sunflower seeds a
delicacy At first there were only two and then as the spring
transitioned into summer , we saw three, then four and
eventually as many as eight , on the feeder at the same time. We
developed a nightly routine. Loading up the feeder just at dusk,
then within minutes , watching them "fly" in. It
appeared that none actually lived in the feeder tree as they
would come sailing in from all directions.
The Nightly Fly-In Streaming Video