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Old 08-09-2011, 07:17 PM
 
Location: Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh
58 posts, read 72,585 times
Reputation: 22

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Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianTH View Post
Yep, we've got gray squirrels, black squirrels (actually a variety of gray squirrel), fox squirrels, and red squirrels, plus Eastern chipmunks. Supposedly we also have flying squirrels, but I have never seen them personally.
Ok, so riddle me this Batman, how did the black squirrels come into existence? When was a kid, I never saw a black squirrel, but then all of a sudden maybe about ten years ago black squirrels started popping up all over the place. Obviously, they came from somewhere, but where and how and why?
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Old 08-09-2011, 07:45 PM
 
Location: Portland, OR
4,275 posts, read 7,598,709 times
Reputation: 2943
Quote:
Originally Posted by Comtesse_Gigi View Post
Ok, so riddle me this Batman, how did the black squirrels come into existence? When was a kid, I never saw a black squirrel, but then all of a sudden maybe about ten years ago black squirrels started popping up all over the place. Obviously, they came from somewhere, but where and how and why?
Since this is from Wikipedia, I'm not sure how accurate or helpful this may be...

Black squirrel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Old 08-09-2011, 07:55 PM
 
Location: Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh
58 posts, read 72,585 times
Reputation: 22
Quote:
Originally Posted by raubre View Post
Since this is from Wikipedia, I'm not sure how accurate or helpful this may be...

Black squirrel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The source of all wisdom and knowledge! I should have known Wikipedia would have an article! Thanks for the info!
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Old 08-10-2011, 06:12 AM
 
Location: Virginia
18,717 posts, read 30,961,502 times
Reputation: 42988
Quote:
Originally Posted by Comtesse_Gigi View Post
Ok, so riddle me this Batman, how did the black squirrels come into existence? When was a kid, I never saw a black squirrel, but then all of a sudden maybe about ten years ago black squirrels started popping up all over the place. Obviously, they came from somewhere, but where and how and why?
Spray paint.
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Old 08-10-2011, 07:30 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
1,519 posts, read 2,661,894 times
Reputation: 1167
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay_F View Post
Agreed, and even fox can do a cat in... I watched the doting, gentle mother on the left, roll a neighbors LARGE male cat (18 lb), and had I not intervened it may have killed it. I love fox, and find them incredible creatures.



Snuck up on the kit, and got the drop on him... I think his eyes say it all:
They are so pretty. Nice photos!
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Old 08-10-2011, 01:58 PM
 
Location: Cortland, Ohio
3,343 posts, read 10,892,474 times
Reputation: 1586
Quote:
Originally Posted by raubre View Post
Since this is from Wikipedia, I'm not sure how accurate or helpful this may be...

Black squirrel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I almost said they came from Kent, Ohio. When i was a kid in the 80s it was rare to see one in my part of Ne Ohio, but they're everywhere in my town now.
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Old 08-11-2011, 09:04 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
29,627 posts, read 34,107,821 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CortlandGirl79 View Post
I almost said they came from Kent, Ohio. When i was a kid in the 80s it was rare to see one in my part of Ne Ohio, but they're everywhere in my town now.
When I was in college, a friend went to College of Wooster in Wooster, OH, and the black squirrels were everywhere. I used to see one or two in Schenley Park when I used to park on Circuit Rd.
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Old 08-11-2011, 10:56 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh area
9,912 posts, read 24,540,264 times
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To me anyway the squirrel situation has been funny recently. This year I've been getting red squirrels at the house when I had never actually seen them before anywhere that I can remember. They're not uncommon around here, just that I'd never seen them, certainly not at the house at least. Also this year and last I've been getting fox squirrels; these things are huge (squirrel-wise). Climbs up my sliding door screen trying to get at a bird feeder (and fails). I remember clearly getting the more ordinary gray squirrels in years past but have not seen any this year at the house that I can remember. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference though if I only take a quick glance. I usually just assume it's some of the same ones that have been around all year. When I see squirrels around here in Gateway Center they tend to look more like the coloring of the fox squirrel now to me, but I believe they are grays. The fox squirrel is more of a brown color. The red squirrel is about the color of those foxes in the photos above and smaller yet than the gray squirrel. This is not quite the right spot typically for the black squirrels to be very common, but that can change over time.

Chipmunks and rabbits also turn up very near the house sometimes. The chipmunks are funny; when you get two males they are intensely territorial and one will chase out the other. It's not an uncommon thing with the critters, clearly, but you don't often see it right out the back door. I had a possum turn up right at the back door one night a few months or so ago; you should have seen the poor thing, looked scared when we turned on the light. The cat was our burglar alarm (this is a glass sliding door) trying to get to it. A lot bigger than I expected. I see groundhogs from the back yard but they don't usually come into our yard. Deer pass through sometimes. I'm sure a raccoon has passed through here and there but I've never actually seen one at the house. Turkeys, trying to remember if actually seen in the yard or out back, but I don't think so. Have seen them in the nearby area within a mile or two but not typically right around the yard.

Other birds are around; this year we've heard a couple of really close red tail hawk calls, and yeah I see them perched on the highway lights sometimes too. In the city there are a couple of well-established peregrine falcon nests, and there may be some more on some of the Ohio River bridges in Beaver County. We get plenty of crows, even right down to the house at one point which was a little unnerving. We have 3 or 4 types of bird feeders going at this point, so the cardinals, nuthatches, house finches and chickadees are prevalent. And blue jays. And hummingbirds at this time of year, we see them daily too with the nectar feeders.

I've never seen a bear in the wild in PA. There should of course be bobcats but I've never seen one. I'm sure it takes a much more rural/wooded area for those. The cats would be solitary and be somewhat territorial. I don't know where around here they might be, but PA as a whole has a sizable population. I can't think of even hearing about a bobcat sighting in a yard (they would be mainly active at dusk or dawn). Bears on the other hand have turned up in yards around here occasionally.
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Old 08-11-2011, 11:52 AM
 
645 posts, read 1,524,859 times
Reputation: 1236
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tinare View Post
They are so pretty. Nice photos!
Thank you. We were lucky that a vixen and her two kits had their den on a property next to ours, and I was able to take a ton of photos of them. To me they represent about a near perfect melding of a cat and dog, so intelligent, and the care the vixen devotes to her kits is inspiring. Really miss not having them around any longer.

Attached Thumbnails
Local critters-89be7cc0.jpg  
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Old 08-11-2011, 12:03 PM
 
20,273 posts, read 32,871,363 times
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Random comment, but domesticated silver foxes are becoming popular pets in Russia:

Domesticated silver fox - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I cannot tell you how much my wife wants to get one of these.
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