Flying squirrels are phantoms of the darkness. Are they nearly invisible waifs, ghosts, or fascinating and beautiful mammals? Fortunately, they are real, moderately common in good habitats, but hardly ever seen by people.
Marion recalls her Uncle Bill taking her outside one evening in Florida. Quietly they waited at dusk and suddenly, a petit squirrel launched from a tree and glided past. A thrilling sighting for a seven-year-old and a fond memory all these years later.
For many years a colony of southern flying squirrels lived in a massive hollow elm at the Indian Creek Nature Center. Although their tree was next to a busy trail, daytime hikers never saw the animals. Many times, I’d lead people to the tree as darkness gathered. We’d sit quietly. Just as it became almost, but not quite, so dark that vision was impossible squirrels would appear from a hole in the tree. We couldn’t really see them glide but could hear a rustle of leaves as one landed nearby. Flying squirrels are delightful.
Two Species
Many people live close to them and don’t realize it because they are so nocturnal. Two species live in North America. The northern flying squirrel lives mostly in Canada, and the southern one lives from about the Canadian line south to the Gulf of Mexico, so most people live in their range.
Can They Really Fly?
Flying squirrels are tiny but can’t fly. They are gliders and probably should be called gliding squirrels. A special adaptation, called a patagium, allows them to extend loose skin along their sides to form a sort of wing. This allows them to glide from up in a tall tree to the ground or the lower section of a tree trunk.
They live in woodsy areas with big nut trees, especially oaks and hickories with plenty of fallen trees on the ground. They live in hollow trees. Come late evening they scurry about seeking seeds, mushrooms, bird eggs, and insects to eat. They are omnivores. Their greatest enemy is the Great Horned Owl, also nocturnal.
Conflicting Schedules
It’s ironic that just as people head indoors as darkness descends, flying squirrels emerge so they are rarely seen. Here’s a trick to help people spot the elusive animals.
Flying squirrels love birdseed. They’ll visit a feeder after dark. So will raccoons, opossums, deer, bears, and mice. A feeder can be as busy at midnight as noon.
How You Can Enjoy Sightings of Flying Squirrels
To enjoy flying squirrels and other nocturnal visitors shine a flashlight on the feeder every once in a while, after sunset. With luck, there will be flying squirrels snacking on seeds.
Although many people let bird feeders be empty overnight, we do the opposite and scatter seed on a platform feeder and the ground. It’s a surefire way to attract the night shift.
Photos Are Hard To Come By
We don’t have a photo of flying squirrels because we’re never near the feeder ready to take pictures in the darkness when the squirrels visit. The National Wildlife Federation offers excellent information about flying squirrels. And YouTube has some fun videos to watch on them.
We also enjoy diurnal squirrels that frequent Iowa yards and forests.
