Quote:
Originally Posted by Beeman
How common are flying squirrels? I've always been fascinated by them but it's one of the very few animals I've never seen in the wild. Everything I've read on them says they are nocturnal but what would my odds of finding one if I were to go wonder around with a flashlight pointing up in the bush? Similar habitat to reds I would assume?
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They are a lot more common then most would think.
No where near the numbers of Red Squirrel but close to the same density as Weasel I would think.
I used to catch upwards of a couple dozen every winter, as bycatch, in Squirrel snares mostly.
I've seen a couple in the wild, not in a set. They are totally nocturnal.
The ones I've seen were mostly nesting in outbuildings on the homestead. We saw them because we busted them from their daytime lair among the junk.
I doubt you could find them with a flashlight. I'd try a moonlit night if I wanted to see them.
I'd camp in a patch of old growth mixed forest. the kind with lots of old snags 20 or more feet tall. Then I'd watch the tops of those snags.
They nest in old woodpecker holes in those snags and when they set out for the evening they climb to the top and glide to the next tree.
Your best chance of seeing them is when they launch into open air.
In the dark they are next to invisible, even when you shine a light on them.
I think they'd stand out silhouetted against the night sky but you would have to be completely silent for a long time. Any noise and they stay put, hugged tight to the trunk of whatever tree they are in.
When they touch down on a tree they immediately race around to the far side in case an owl spotted them in the air and is closing in on them.
I learned that from National Gigglegraphic.. LOL but things I've seen them do support what NG claimed.
Flying Squirrels
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