Black squirrel

I have a squirrel thats black as night. Can’t remember ever having one around here before. Lots of greys but this is the first black. Wonder what causes that?

When a mommy and daddy love each other….

I have a black and a white squirrel in my yard every day. Its definitely nice to see

Dutchboy wrote:

I have a squirrel thats black as night. Can’t remember ever having one around here before. Lots of greys but this is the first black. Wonder what causes that?

Genetics.

Lake City and Wabasha are full of black squirrels. The black variety are in other towns we’ve visited too. Pretty common actually. White variety is less common.

#BlackSquirrelsLivesMatter

They seem to be in clusters. I see them around the lakes in southern Washington County, I’ve seen them near Mil Lacs. Finally found a couple of road kills. Squirrel tail is an awesome fly tying material, and the black looks especially good.

SR

The Black color phase was actually the dominant color prior to Europeans coming to America and clearing the forests. As wooded areas became more open with more light penetration the grey phase became more prevalent.

Too soon.

We have one that shows up for a couple days, then we won’t see it for a month. Not sure if he heads to the neighbors thru the woods or what. That is the one squirrel that is off limits to the boy.

According to Wikipedia, They are pretty rare. About 1 in 10,000 Grey squirrels are black. I have a picture somewhere of two black squirrels in my grandparents backyard! Cool to see!

Bearcat89 wrote:

I have a black and a white squirrel in my yard every day. Its definitely nice to see

Now that’s cool!!

When I first moved to my house north of St. Paul all we had was black squirrels, then it went to all greys and now we are back to a mix of 50/50. we had one Albino one for 3 years or so as well. You could say I live in a diverse squirrel community.

At the cabin in Central Wisconsin we haves tons of black squirrels. I woild guess 40 to 50 per cent mix. At home in SW Wisconsin we have all grays except 1. It is gray with a reddish tail.

As a kid I would see black squirrels and white squirrels in my grandparents’ backyard in Brooklyn Center.

Seems like where there is 1 black squirrel, there are many black squirrels.

biggill wrote:

Too soon.

A woods I used to hunt near Balsam Lake, WI was full of them. Melanistic squirrels out numbered greys 2:1

Two miles away and they were rare again.

Brainard seems to have pockets of them.

mplspug wrote:

Brainard seems to have pockets of them.

Yeah there were a handful of them when I was up in Crosslake last weekend

we have a black squirrel at the cabin up in Itasca county…….. but dang is he skidish!!!!!! once he sees you he’s off like a rocket and he dont stop.

i’ve always wanted to get a white and black tree rat to have a mount made on a little tree.

Here in Hudson, I’ve seen numerous grays, the always-dubious reds, many blacks, and even a few whites. The coolest one I’ve seen lately is a black with a reddish-brown tail.
Side note: also still trying to put eyes on the neighborhood porcupine.

There have been black squirrels around me for over 30 years. I had 7 under my bird feeder at the same time this winter. My Buddy had a black and white one they called “Patches”.

mplspug wrote:

Seems like where there is 1 black squirrel, there are many black squirrels.

They outnumber the grays in my yard about 4-1. Its been like that for about the last ten years out of the fifteen we’ve been here.
I like em.

belletaine wrote:

I like em.

Tastes like chicken.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>belletaine wrote:</div>
I like em.

Tastes like chicken.

guilty pleasure…

I read this thread when it was first posted. Now I seen my first one up at the lake today. Never seen one before that!

Very very common here. As common as reds and more than greys anymore.

We’ve been having a lot of fun watching the squirrel population go through their color variations. We had the three color variations; grey, white and black all at once as you can see in one of the attached pics. Black squirrels seem to surround us. We have a favorite we call Asphalt. Just recently we’ve been blessed with the appearance of some even more unique. A black with a white tail we call Stinker because on first sighting you’d have thought it was a skunk. The grey with the white tail must be a sibling and we’ve had numerous greys with what we call silver tails. Now the reds get fed pellets or are taught how to swim.

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   Squirrel-Stinker.jpg
   

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Here’s an albino from 4 years ago.

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Messes around my house it’s the Dead kind.

Dutchboy wrote:

I have a squirrel thats black as night. Can’t remember ever having one around here before. Lots of greys but this is the first black. Wonder what causes that?

jwellsy wrote:

When a mommy and daddy love each other….

Made me LOL.

We have both a black and a white in the woods we own. For the past 2 years anyways.