Melanistic squirrels around the neighborhood

debodun

debodun

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Location
way upstate in New York, USA
We seem to have quite a lot of melanistic squirrels around here. I see a few at my neighbors wildlife feeder. A man I used to deliver meals to also had one I'd see occasionally scampering around his property. This morning I happened to see one by the south corner of the house. I took a pic from inside, so the window screen is visible. I saw another one across the street that a crow (or some large black bird) was harassing.

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I've spotted a couple down here in the SE. I was surprised. I hadn't seen any since lived in some other state but I don't remember which one. Or maybe it's when I spent a ton of time in Canada.
 
these are our squirrels.. they must have come via California..lol

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Both pics taken by Moi.....
 
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Had to look up the term melanistic squirrels, it seems I have them here if they are simply a different 'black squirrel', I have the usual black, red all the time but once in while after dark a fellow who does not scare of easily from the window mounted bird feeder. Best we can come up with is a “Flying Squirrel” of which there seems to be 50 odd varieties. I just know we do not chase him off as much as the Black and Reds in the BIRD feeder and I can damned near reach out and grab him!
 
Lovely people, you will be glad to know that no one in the US has been bitten by a rabid squirrel. This is likely because if a squirrel was bitten by a rabid animal, the squirrel was probably also killed by that animal. They are not a vector for rabies. Most likely, no one will offer you rabies shots if you get bitten because it would be a waste and expensive and painful (maybe).

Also they do bite. It is best not to touch one or feed it from your hands, unless you are a masochist. Those are vicious bites.

If you spend a lot of time in the company of squirrels, they will eventually get bold enough to come very close to you. This is not the time to let your oh what a cute little baby pookie pooh instincts come to the fore. They will bite you. It will hurt. A lot. And you will have to go to the ER.

My ex husband had a pet squirrel. Rescued from falling from its nest, presumably, when it was a tiny hairless infant. His father named it Freud because it liked nuts. That squirrel spent his evenings in his father's shirt pocket or just hanging around with his father. He did not bite (but the father allegedly did - his bark was not worse than his bite.). Freud was a pet.

If anyone is interested, there is a great book about squirrels called Squirrels of the World, by research scientists at Johns Hopkins: Richard W. Thorington, Jr., John L. Koprowski, Michael A. Steele, and James F. Whatton
 
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I’ve never seen a black squirrel in the wild but they are quite common in my city neighborhood along with gray and red squirrels.

It’s interesting that the different squirrels squabble among themselves and that the red squirrels seem to do the most property damage.
 
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