Ever See A Black Squirrel?

[Hotwings]

Believe it or not they are a Eastern Fox squirrel, just a darker version. We have some where I live but only in certain areas of town. I have never seen any mingle with the regular fox squirrels to. They are very pretty but not really all that rare around here but not as common as the reddish brown variety.

 

[pipermark]

http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/spervari.htm Rock squirrels. Thes black ones are different I think. I do not think I have ever seen one. Thanks for the pics.

http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/easternfoxsquirrel.htm Eastern Fox Squirrel, this says they are black in the Southern part of its range , white stripe on head and white on tip of tail.

Seems they may be a threat, watch out for the Black Squirrels http://www.scarysquirrel.org/current/blackskwerls/

HMMMM if you mix a white and a Black , would you get a blue?

 

[mudhen]

I've seen black ones (not often) when I travel to Maine.
Haven't seen any here in the WV panhandle, though.

On the subject of oddities, we had a white crow living here with its family of six regular black crows for a few years. It wasn't albino, had regular color eyes, beak and legs, but had white/tan feathers. He/she was so cool to watch and we felt honored to have her around.
We named our little homestead White Crow.

 

[mudhen]

pipermark, that 'scary squirrel' (skwerl) is hilarious!!

 

[Picco]

Black squirrels are rare overall but can be common in some areas. They are called black morphs. Most of the squirrels I have seen in Toronto, ON are black. I think its melanism which is caused by a recessive gene but I'm not sure.

 

[mom'sfolly]

My MIL's neighborhood in the Minneapolis area has both black and white squirrels. I think they must be natural mutations in that area. The squirrels there are the biggest , fattest, fluffiest ones I've ever seen. My kids love them, and I get a kick out of them too. The Texas heat seems to keep our squirrel lean, small and not terribly furry.

Karen