A Squirrel of a Different Color

[toughguy]

I've seen this guy around the neighborhood before but today was the first time he's been at my feeder. No doubt he's more anxious for winter than I am.

[pushbutton]

It would be kind of hard to kick him/her off the feeder! Those pink eyes are a little creepy though. Nice pics, thanks for sharing.....

[micpic]

I like your images, your squirrel, and your feeder. I'd read someplace in Illinois there is a village where white squirrel's are quite common. I don't know if they are true albino's as yours is though. Thanks for sharing!

Mike

[RiverFish]

Great camo for the upcoming winter season

Great Pics!

[creepworm]

I like your images, your squirrel, and your feeder. I'd read someplace in Illinois there is a village where white squirrel's are quite common. I don't know if they are true albino's as yours is though. Thanks for sharing!

Mike

There a town by the name of Plato MN where they are pretty common as well. There town days are even called White Squirrel days. I think they are actually white squirrels and not albino like the one in your picture.

[toughguy]

In a few weeks I won't be able to see him!

[RustySasquatch]

Nice rat! I have shot a few of those off my feeders.

[toughguy]

Tell me, how do you go about shooting such an elusive creature?

[bobbymalone]

I have had a couple at my feeders in B-ville. There are few towns around the country that celebrate their white squirrels.

It looks like yours is an albino, with the pink eyes. Some of the populations aren't true albinos, just white squirrels.

[Steve Foss]

I've seen two white gray squirrels here in Ely. Both were leucistic, however, not true albinos. I can't recall ever seeing a leucistic or albino red or fox squirrel, but have seen a number of gray squirrels over the years with those conditions. And of course the all black melanistic color phase is fairly common in gray squirrels. Can't recall ever seeing a melanistic red or fox squirrel, either.

[bobbymalone]

how you go about telling if it's a gray or red squirrel if it is white? I always assume our white ones are grays since that is what we have running around in my neighborhood.

[Steve Foss]

Grays are about twice the size of reds, so they are easy to tell apart no matter what colors they might be.

[bobbymalone]

Grays are about twice the size of reds, so they are easy to tell apart no matter what colors they might be.

I bow in reverence, squirrel master.

[JPenny]

The greys might be bigger there, but here in Iowa the red fox squirrel is much bigger.

[Steve Foss]

The greys might be bigger there, but here in Iowa the red fox squirrel is much bigger.

The red and fox squirrel are different species. In the places where all three occur together, no matter what color phase each might be, it's easy to tell the red squirrel from the other two based on size alone. If you had an albino fox squirrel and an albino gray squirrel sitting next to each other, it would be very tough to tell them apart.

Where I grew up in eastern N.D., the fox squirrels (fairly uncommon) were about the same size as the gray squirrels. Regional size differences could easily explain why fox squirrels down there are bigger than grays.

[Dotch]

Could very well be some regional size differences due to genetics as well as habitat. In SE & SC MN the grays are much more common than fox squirrels in town where they dine primarily on black walnuts and acorns. They've been very busy lately burying walnuts. With the ground so dry and hard they've got their work cut out for them. In the country seems like it's almost all fox squirrels. There in addition to the mast crops they have access to lots of corn. The grays we do see in the country are usually a little smaller though unless you happen to see some younger fox squirrels. There are 3 smaller fox squirrels coming to our ear corn feeder that appear to be a late batch. I see or hear the occasional red squirrel in woods along a stream or a lake but rarely in town and we've never seen one at the ranch. The last white gray squirrel we had at the office was about 5 - 7 years ago. Didn't last long for whatever reason.

[MN Shutterbug]

When you hear red squirrel, think pine squirrel because they are of the same genus. Many, if not most people, call fox squirrels red squirrels due to their coloring. I've never seen a white or albino squirrel, and only black on a couple occasions. We also have very few red squirrels around here. We're just overrun with the grays and foxes.

[Ufatz]

Fox squirrels in most parts of MN are larger than all the other species. Greys can mutate into blacks very easily and albinism is not that unusual. The little "red" squirrel is a whole different critter....primarily they are a noisy, destructive little PITA! Ha!

An abundance of greys and fox squirrels means only one thing.

It's time for a squirrel feed: brown 'em in a little bacon grease after dregding in seasoned flour. Then into oven. In meantime make corn bread and a tossed green salad. A nice '64 Chateau Y'quim is a perfect wine but you could go with a '54 Chateau Margaux. Or I suppose a dellicate BOX of Chateau Deere '11.

Carry on men.

[eyeguy 54]

I see blacks towards Rockville and white/grey north of Clear Lake. Never have seen an Albino. Cool shot you have. Love the pink eyes! I grew up in ND and always called a fox sq a red sq. Red sq I called little red, lol. Very rare to see a fox sq around here. Saw one about 7 years ago while on stand out by the racketball club. might just have to go look for those white ones with my camera.