Hey HideHunter (or any of you tree rat experts)

[Thumper]

We’ve been camped at a park in Minnesota, and the past couple of days, I’ve noticed a few, solid black tree rats running around. I’ve never had a good chance for a pic, but as I was sitting at our picnic table this morning, one was snooping around and didn’t notice me sitting here. Of course, once I grabbed my phone for a pic, he hauled ass, but I was at least able to get one shot as he ran off. I’m just wondering how common these guys are. I never see any at home as all we have is the standard grey squirrels.


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[BarryBobPosthole]

We have reds, greys, and blacks here in Okieland. The black squirrels and grey squirrels seems to be more in the mountains. The red ones are ‘town squirrels’.
I’ve never killed a black squirrel. But I’ll say greys seems to go better with dumplins.

BKB

[jb]

Pretty common around here, about equal to grays and fox type.
A few years ago Hidehunter wanted some black tails for fly tying. Son shot about 6 off is bird feeder, and I sent them to Iowa.
Never heard if they worked or not on the local fish.

[DeputyDog]

We have them here too, but mostly in towns. I believe that I read somewhere once that the blacks are a color variation in grays. At my place, I don’t have any grays, just fox squirrels and too many reds. The damn reds started to chew the cushions on my deck furniture so I’ve been plinking them off when I see them. I’ve shot around 20 in the last 6 weeks or so.


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[quercus alba]

From Wikipedia: Black squirrels are a melanistic subgroup of squirrels with black coloration on their fur. The phenomenon occurs with several species of squirrels, although it is most frequent with the eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) and the fox squirrel (Sciurus niger). Black morphs of the eastern gray and fox squirrels are the result of an abnormal pigment gene. Several theories have surfaced as to why the black morph occurs, with some suggesting that the black morph is a selective advantage for squirrels inhabiting the northern ranges of the species, with the black-fur providing a thermal advantage over its non-melanistic counterpart.

I've never seen a black cat squirrel but black fox squirrels are seen here and there. I may have shot a half dozen or so in my life and all of them in open timber which fox squirrels seem to prefer.

[Chicken Dinner]

The black color phase of grey squirrels is pretty common here in suburban DC. I think I read somewhere that Teddy Roosevelt may have introduced them at the National Zoo or something.


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[Thumper]

Yep, in the same area I saw tons of common grays, a LOT of the smaller red squirrels and a handful of these blacks. I’ve seen a lot of Fox Squirrels over the years and a black here and there, but never saw so many blacks in one small area. I saw 5-6 in the small park-like area we were staying. Nice looking critters when you’re not used to seeing them.

[BarryBobPosthole]

The further north you go, the smaller the squirrels get. The Canadian model is a bonafide tree rat.

BKB