Black Squirrels.

S

snobuilder

Well-known member
Is anyone else seeing them this year?

I'm not an avid outdoors-men like some of you but I am outside a lot and I saw my first black squirrel a couple weeks ago in NW WI.
I saw a fox squirrel as well so I just figure there are more abundant types of wildlife in general the further north you go in the state.

So, now back home in SE WI, I walk over to the window this morning to see what the weather looks like and here is a PAIR of the little devils in the large silver maple tree in the yard.????
What gives?
Oh yea, we have an Osprey hanging around our lake this summer as well....not that common in these parts either.

A quick google search says....

Black fur for both species of squirrels is rare, and occurs at rates of less than one per cent. It has been suggested that one in 10,000 eastern gray squirrels are a black morph.

and....

Black squirrels, which are native to the Midwestern United States, Ontario, Quebec, and parts of the Northeastern US and Great Britain, are actually significantly more aggressive than your average grey and red squirrels. This difference in behavior is due to the squirrels' higher levels of testosterone.

LMAO!!!!!
 
eagle1

eagle1

Well-known member
Use to have one here but haven't seen it this year. Seen a white one few weeks ago when we were cruising the Tomahawk/Minocqua thoroughfare.
 
dfattack

dfattack

Well-known member
I have a few at my house up in Florence.

We spend time in Toronto and all they have are black squirrels. I don't remember seeing any grey colored squirrels there at all. From what I read the black colored squirrels are still the species "grey squirrels".
 
G

garageguy

Well-known member
Lots of them in the Lakewood area

- - - Updated - - -

I shot a fair amount of red squirrels. But I leave the black ones.. as their lives matter.
 
R

renegade

Active member
I see them every deer season around here. For sure not abundant as red or grey, but not rare around here.
 
R

russholio

Well-known member
I would see them a few miles east of here when I played softball over that way. They migrated this way 15-20 years ago and took over. Now we hardly ever see a fox squirrel. They're noisy, aggressive, and destructive to plants (can't have tulips because they gnaw the heads off and leave them lay). I hate 'em.
 
S

slimcake

Active member
10-22.jpg
9k=
Not many rodents in my neighborhood...
 
D

DamageInc

Member
I'm not buying that "one in ten thousand" estimate. But it's a genetic trait that is passed down, so it's common to see no black squirrels in some areas, and quite a few in others. The most I have seen is in the Petawawa area of Ontario. Very common there.

Black squirrels matter!
 
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favoritos

favoritos

Well-known member
Never really noticed that they are more aggressive. Honestly, those little red buggers seem to be the nasty ones in the bunch around here.
We have albino squirrels that show up fairly often. Maybe even more than the black squirrels? I don't do any official squirrel counts, so I'm not positive.
I'm kinda blah blah blah about the squirrels. We have plenty of whatever kind. The wife grew up in an area that did not have gray squirrels. She used to stop and take pictures when she saw one around here. Her family still does when they come to visit. I can't even imagine how much storage capacity is used to for pictures of the gray squirrel population around our neighborhood.
We had a pretty good bout of mange that went through the squirrels last season. My god, they get ugly.
 
N

Northstar

Member
No scientifical study done here but it seemed that 20 years ago all we had in Chicago were Gray and Brown squirrels and now all I seem to see is Gray and a few smattering of Black squirrels. I cannot recall seeing the Browns around lately. In Northern Vilas 20 years ago I only ever saw Red squirrels and never a Gray, now it seems I see more Gray then Reds. But then for 20+ years I never saw a rabbit or raccoon around Northern WI and I have seen several this year alone. Like I said I am not a Scientologists I am just passing on what I observed.
 
BigSix

BigSix

Active member
I recently saw a grey squirrel with a striped tail like a raccoon. I never saw that before. COVID-19 squirrel?
 
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