On top of the feeder and in the air – Flying Squirrels
The flying squirrels were super active last night. Flying and feeding, closing the “wings.” They were all over the feeders until the raccoons showed up and took over. You can actually see the squirrels body in the big wings and he is definitely ON TOP!
Two Flyers, with probably more in back and on the other feeder
On the march! Foof awaits … but not much
Categories: Animals, black & white photography, flying, Flying squirrels, Gallery, Marilyn Armstrong, Wildlife
What a wonderful respite from the world….the critters are still amazing and amusing! Thanks for sharing! Those raccoons look immense, compared to the tiny squirrel(s), but I bet those squirrels would give a wicked bite, pushed to it. It’s lovely you feed them all. ❤
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The raccoons are a bit problematic being as they eat pounds of food every night. Much as I love them all, I don’t have the money to feed 50 pounds of food a week. I’m still trying to figure out what to do.
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Eerie but cute if that makes sense. They could be extras from “Night People” (52/Fox) Gregory Peck, Brod Crawford.
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They probably had their fill already….that’s why the feeder is down…
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They are voracious eaters … and the flyers eat a lot, just by volume. There are several flyers on each feeder and like most squirrels, they are nonstop eating machines!
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I’m awaiting the arrival of a flying raccoon. With the nightly critter singles bar you’re running there, it could happen…
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I no longer feel like a bird feeder. More like a zookeeper! We have foxes, too. If they take to the air, it could get very weird.
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YOUR people, Squirrel.
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Flying squirrels are so cool! My aunt and uncle used to have a summer home in northern Wisconsin which was built on a hill, so sitting on the deck, we were eye level with the middle of the trees. One evening we were sitting there and saw a lot of flying squirrels flying here and there. They made no noise and it was a wonder to watch them. It was one of the most peaceful moments of my life.
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They are like ghosts floating through the woods. I think they just like gliding around. It’s the fun part of their day!
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Those are babies compared to Zippy (My pet coon.) He got to be immense!!!
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These probably ARE babies. In the wild, raccoons live maybe 3 to 4 years, but as pets, they live as much as 20 years. That is a HUGE difference. Most wild raccoons don’t live to adulthood. This is also true of flying squirrels which also make nice pets. They live 3 to 6 years in the wild, 10 to 15 as pets … but as pets, they can almost never fly.
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Interesting. probably because they don’t have to.. or don’t get hight enough.
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They get eaten as babies by bigger predators. Foxes, coyotes, big hawks, and eagle all think raccoons are a great dinner. When they get big, they can fight them off, but they get eaten when they are half grown or babies. Ditto Woodchucks and even Flying Squirrels. Once Flyers get good at it, they are pretty good at escaping, but again, like raccoons, in the wild, they live a handful of years, but as pets, they can live triple those years, or even more.
Once they are full-grown, though, they are tough as nails. They have a very thick skin that most animals can’t even puncture with a tooth or claw. Plus they get pretty damned big. Thirty to fifty pounds and as I said, tough. The problem is getting them to that size. Obviously some do or there wouldn’t be so many of them, but they young for more years than most animals of that size, so they are vulnerable for many years.
I rather hope our seeds give them a head start. But the foxes are after then. We saw the foxes trying to find them in the woods yesterday. And I’m sure they coyotes are happy to eat them. I don’t think the Bobcats are not big or strong enough to handle a raccoon, but anything smaller? Yum! Big dogs kill them, though. Bears. Jaguars. But that’s the way of the wild.
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Our enemies are tinier…Nature has learned .
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Yes. They weren’t always tiny, but we got the technology. I sometimes catch old movies Garry’s watching and there’s a picture of a cougar and the moment the
character sees it, he kills it.
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