Flying Squirrel - Finally got 'im!

[finnbay]

It's just about 9:00 in the evening, and I checked my deck and there was a flying squirrel in the feeder for the second time in the last couple of weeks. I think I've only seen one other in the 30+ years I've lived up here between Babbitt and Ely. Steve, have you seen any up here? How 'bout jonny and jayinmn in the Hibbing area? We'd have one occasionally when I was growing up north of Nashwauk, and I know they're nocturnal, but how prevalent are they in the northland? No pix yet, but I almost got to the window with my camera tonight - maybe before too long!

[DonBo]

We see quite a few at the cabin in NW Wisconsin. Pretty cool critters, until they get in your attic!

I once had one land 2 feet from my head while in a treestand. Good luck getting shots of them, they are very skittish.

[Steve Foss]

Ken, I've seen one this far north, but not in my yard. They prefer fairly mature forest. We see them all the time at night at our lake place north of Bemidji.

The northern flying squirrel occurs all around the northern Great Lakes, including the whole MN Arrowhead and the Canadian areas around the lakes.

[JayinMN]

I have seen them around this area quite a bit. We had a female nest in one of our nest boxes and raise 5 babies a few summer ago. I also get pictures of them on my trail cameras behind my house when I am baiting bear back there. I think I deleted all of them though, I did a quick scan through them. Flying squirrels are more gregarious then other squirrels so don't be surprised if you have a family show up on your feeders. We used to have 3-4 at a time eating at our feeder at the cabin near Big Fork.

[yukon]

We have them show up in the winter at the bird feeders here in embarrass but not this year yet.

[bwtrout]

I have one that comes out at night at my place on Miners in Ely.

[Jim Almquist]

This family lives at the cabin and have been around for about 4 years. This is just one of the little daredevils. This is 12 miles north of Grand rapids.

[Steve Foss]

Here's one from the feeder at the cabin north of Bemidji.

[sparcebag]

Wow thats pretty cool! You could name all animals in Mn. And I've seen them with the exception of these squirrel.

I'd still like to see & watch one!

[Steve Foss]

They are a lot of fun to watch. The feeder at the cabin is right in front of all the windows that face the lake, and there's a double-gang of floodlights washing the area, so when the squirrels or raccoons are in at night, we'll flip on the lights and watch them. They don't seem to mind at all.

[finnbay]

Thanks for all of the replies! I suspected there were probably more around than I'd seen, but I prowl around a lot and had seen so few. Glad to see some of you have been able to get some pix!

[Catmendo]

Flying Squirrels are very common up here! They are (as is common knowledge) extremely Nocturnal. The first time I ever personnally encountered one of these wonderful little creatures was during a late fall bush camp up on the Winnipeg River. The squirell literally appeared out of nowhere. It simply flew (glided) into our campsite, landing on a near by birch tree only serveral fet from our presence. It happened in the middle of the afternoon, which was amazing to see at that time! One of the guys managed to get some really great images of the squirell, however this was before the digital era!

[ButchHero]

We see a lot of them around home (Hibbing) and at the lake (Orr) and have for years. Sadly, I usually get 1 or 2 in my traps every year, too...

[let it snow]

Have one up here at our home on Kabetogama...nightyly around 7. Of course, we're only a few miles away from Frostbite Falls, the home of Rocky, the world's most famous flying squirrel!

LET IT SNOW

[The_Duckslayer]

We found a baby one in the yard when I lived in IL. Took it in the house and fed it and brought it back to health. One of the coolest pets we ever had! Someone left the toilet seat up one night and then we did not have a flying squirrel pet any more :-( Take care and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo

[finnbay]

Third night in a row, and I finally got 'im! X - this is with my 40D. Had the 70-200 on and shot it with just the yard light on at ISO 3200, f/2.8 and 1/25th of a second. Hand held with IS on:

[mrfish1991]

great pic...thanks for the post