The Northern Flying Squirrel

By Al Lowe
Contributor

In the spring one year, I was going through my property in Crozier, cleaning out the birdhouses, to be ready for the new arrivals. One seemed to be chuck full of grass, straw, dried leaves, along with some bits of pink insulation.
As I took a big handful of this stuff out, the whole thing seemed to come alive. A little furry head with big bulging eyes looked at me. It was a mother Flying Squirrel. A little probing revealed a number of little hairless baby squirrels. I pushed all the material back in and left them all alone.
The Northern Flying Squirrel is Glaucomys sabrinus. A great many people don't even know that we have flying squirrels in this part of Canada, but they are in fact quite common. They are quite common everywhere in Canada where we have trees.
The reason people don't know about them is that they are active at night. They come out to start their activities in that period of half-light between sunset and dark, the gloaming. The big bulgy eyes are a special adaptation for night vision.
Now, flying squirrels don't really fly - they glide. Between their front and hind legs on each side is a thin fold of skin covered with fur. When the squirrel wants to get from one tree to another, he simply jumps off from near the top. When his legs are held out flat, this fold of skin stretches to form the whole animal into a small glider. His tail is flat, too, and is used for balance and for maneuvering.
He can glide a pretty fair distance, up to 150 feet or more. He can navigate between branches easily, and he always lands upright.
Flying squirrels don't like to live alone. Often several will stay together in a hallow tree. They tend to forage together also, but a mated pair will occupy a nest by themselves. Old woodpecker holes seem to be preferred, but they also build nests in (usually) evergreen trees. These nests are called 'drays' and are good sized affairs of moss, bark, lichens and so on.
They eat much the same thing as other squirrels - nuts, seeds, fruit, buds, and so on, as well as birds' eggs, grubs, insects and worms. They often feed on carcasses, and can become a considerable nuisance to trappers by taking bait out of the traps. Their own fir is of no commercial value at all - too soft.
Our squirrel can be up to 18 inches in length, where the southern species is much smaller. A soft, cinnamon brown animal, with bulgy eyes and the ability to glide, our squirrel is one of the most intriguing but least known mammals. Watch for it in the half light of the evening.
There are some big old oaks by our house, and when the acorns are ripe, the things that 'go bump in the night' are the flying squirrels hitting the roof.