I noticed a post earlier in the week from a friend who had spotted flying squirrels showing up to a feeder. She mentioned something about them being back, although they probably were never actually too far away.
They are hard to spot. Since they are a kind of greyish colour and are nocturnal, and they are only around at night, or at least close to night, it makes them hard to spot. But every so often they might dash or glide by, usually quick enough that you might question whether or not you actually saw anything.
There are actually two types of flying squirrels in the province. The smaller southern flying squirrel is supposedly only found in the Gaspereau Valley and Kejimkujik National Park. But since they are squirrels, you still might see them in other places. The northern flying squirrel is found in many areas.
There was one night a few years ago, I had both species sitting side by side on a feeder at the same time. Pretty good time to compare the two. Horrible time to not have a camera handy.
But I’ve been seeing them on and off for most of the summer. But you really need a feeder around that has enough light that you can see them clearly, but not too much to make then want to stay away. Although they do seem fairly friendly. Just not overly so.
While our red squirrels tend to be a bit more bold and downright demanding at times. I have a couple that meet me at the door in then morning, looking for food. I haven’t done much to discourage it, so I have to take the blame on that one. But I don’t mind having them around. And since I put out feed for the red squirrels, I try to make sure there is a bit left as dusk approaches, just in case my little nocturnal friends drop by.
They don’t seem to hang around a lot. They dash in, grab a nut or a seed and run away to eat it. Then come back for more. They generally don’t seem overly concerned about people nearby, and there have even been times they have run across people to get to the feeder.
You really do need a feeder in the right spot to even know they exist, although if they are around you can sometimes hear them at night, with their rather high pitched calls it’s pretty easy not to notice.
In many ways, it’s quite amazing these little things can live so close, yet are rarely seen.