# Black Squirrels



## gman12 (Mar 6, 2003)

I live in the city, been here about 38 years, lived in this area 63 years, never seen a black squirrel until about the last 3 years and it stayed down in the next block. This year there have been many around, and they are real skittish, have even had a few in my front yard. They are even going up the trees with the rest of the squirrels, they just don't stay up there very long. It's pretty cool to start seeing them after all of these years. Any one know about them?


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## BVG (Nov 18, 2004)

They are actually Gray Squirrels that are black in color. 

Gray Squirrels are a bit smaller that Fox Squirrels, have tufted ears, and are a bit more animated than the Fox squirrels. Gray Squirrels do not sit still for long and are almost constantly on the move. 

There are many color variations; black, gray, and even a cream color. The cream color is kind of rare as they are easy targets for predators. A single liter can have all three color phases.


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## swampbuck (Dec 23, 2004)

They are very common in northern mich. in fact they outnumber fox and grey squirel buy at least 3 to 1


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## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

It would be interesting to know what has caused the increase in the black coloration in gray squirrels. 

I first saw them as a child in the 60's right in downtown Traverse City and on Belle Isle in Detroit. People used to make special trips to both locations just to see them. 

They didn't really seem to start spreading out all over the Lower Peninsula until sometime in the 70's. Read about squirrel hunting in the 40's and 50's in Michigan, and you'll realize that black squirrels were rare then, in fact, protected for a period in the 40's, according to the book written by DW Allen, considered the "guru" of squirrels in Michigan's early Department of Conservation. 

Now, as someone else said, they are the predominant color in gray squirrels. 

It may be my imagination but I have always thought that the blacks were not as smart or as stealthy as the grays, in the past 20 years I've probably killed three times as many black squirrels as I have gray squirrels or fox squirrels (not a lot of fox squirrels up north any more).


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## Rysalka (Aug 13, 2008)

Read somewhere (Trying to find the Article) that Black is the dominate squirrel color, helped them hide from preditors. As squirrel hunting became popular blacks were the easiest to see so coloring slowly migrates to grey the recessive color as hunting pressure increases and swings back when it decreases.


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## Rysalka (Aug 13, 2008)

Heres the article,,think I'll retract most of my above statement
http://www.woodlandhabitat.com/articles/black-squirrels.htm


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## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

Thanks, great reading...always neat to learn something.


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## jacktownhooker (Apr 7, 2007)

Nice story !
what about flying squirrels ? ...anyone see them here ?
I seen them in Chicago at my great grand mothers place in palo's park 40 years ago


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## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

Lots of them up here. But they're very shy, and are generally only out at night. 

I once had a cat that gave me a real good indication of the local flying squirrel population-I could always count them by the number of tails the cat left laying in the yard after he ate the squirrel...

This time of year, at night late, is a good time to gauge local flying squirrel numbers...watch your bird feeders at night.


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## severus (Feb 8, 2000)

Good article. 

I've noticed that Holland has always had a large black squirrel population, but Grand Rapids has none. Strange.


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## Ole Spike (Nov 22, 2004)

Around here never used to see them. Now we are overrun with them. They seem to be more dominant and take over.


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## gman12 (Mar 6, 2003)

Mine started out with one down in the next block about 3 years ago, now there on 4 blocks in a row. Very shy and very hyper.


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## Ole Spike (Nov 22, 2004)

Need to thin out some of these pests in the deer woods where I hunt. They have taken over the area and I rarely see any squirrels any more that aren't black. They have wiped out most of the corn we planted for the deer and turkey. Saw several of them hauling off whole cobs every time I hunted. I suspect they are more aggressive or dominant than the other squirrels. I did notice they seem to move into a primary area and drive the other squirrels a few hundred yards away as one of my stands is 300 yards away and I see all fox and grays squirrels at it and mostly all black squirrels in the stand on the food plot.


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