October 14, 2006
When I saw a strange black critter sitting on a pumpkin in my yard, I wondered if it was the full Harvest Moon or the promise of Halloween that was playing tricks on my eyes.
My aging vision did not deceive me.
I called my son to verify this bizarre sighting.
He saw it, too.
A black squirrel with haunting eyes and a sleek, gorgeous coal-black coat was right there in our back yard scampering around the walnut tree.
I ran straight to the internet to learn what I could about this mysterious creature.
One of the most interesting stories I found was from the Chicago Wilderness Magazine in which Nancy Shepherdson wrote this:
“A black squirrel is one of nature’s great ‘gotcha’ moments, as if something shaped like a squirrel couldn’t possibly be that color. Those who have never seen a black squirrel before often describe their first sighting as something magical. Some quite literally doubt their senses.”
If you have seen one of these exotic creatures, you may have been as surprised as I was.
If not, you might not believe they exist.
For a long time, I thought these strange squirrels lived only in the North, but my cousin Dorothy says she has seen them many times right here in the Midwest.
Verification of the black squirrel sighting was important to me.
Once before, in this exact spot, I came face-to-face with a whitetail buck with a 10-point rack.
No one believed me then. This time, I found a witness.
Interestingly, the black squirrel with his shiny, thick winter fur did not appear to be afraid of me.
The black squirrel, aggressive and quick, was dominating his territory and protecting his walnut stash with surprising ferocity.
The red one did not dare approach the tree.
My web search also revealed that a University of Illinois-Chicago biology professor launched a study in 1999 called Project Squirrel in which he studied these critters.
Joel Brown conducted the study to find out which types of squirrels live where.
He calls the black squirrel, also known as the black fox squirrel, “the most conspicuous wild mammal in an urban setting.”
Brown quips, “Gray squirrels go to college. Fox squirrels go to the suburbs.”
By that he means that gray squirrels are more likely to live on large college campuses or in parks while the fox squirrels, both red and black, live on the margins of urban areas in cemeteries, and wooded back yards.
Some observers indicate that grays are more skittish, but these black ones will take on cats or humans as they walk by. They have claws, too.
Scientists have apparently decided that the black squirrel is a rare genetic condition and is really just a morph of the gray.
In my backyard (and I live in town), I have had the pleasure of seeing a black squirrel, the big buck, 28 deer at one counting, a stout, cute, bear-like ground hog, wild turkey, Canada geese, raccoons, numerous red fox, and coyotes. There’s a bobcat around some of the time, too.
It used to be that people enjoyed bird watching in their back yards, and that was about the extent of their wildlife experience. Now, according to Professor Brown, we have “urban wildlife…an urban game park, and it’s every bit as exciting as the Serengeti.”
Of course, that does not address the nuisance component of having wild things that decide to take up residence on our lawns.
Soon, I am going to Colorado to visit my brother where he has regular stopovers in his back yard from black bears.
He says they just look at you and walk away.
Likely story.
This is taking urban wildlife enjoyment way too far for me.
I am taking my Pepper Spray.
