If you have never seen a flying squirrel before, you will truly be amazed at how agile they are and how easily they can fly. I have heard of them before , but I am pretty sure that we don't have any in the area where we live. If you are out in the woods and see some squirrels; be sure to watch and see if any of them happen to be flying squirrels ! !
That is too cute! Last summer Ken was cleaning up and trimming some of the lower branches off the trees in our backyard when I heard him yell. I looked outside and all seemed well. Then a little while later I heard him yell again. This time for me. When I went outside he told me to come stand by the tree he was working on and tell him what was in the little birdhouse he'd built and put up there. I went and stood, looking up at the house. I said, "I don't see anything." Ken said, "Wait," and then he started up his little electric chainsaw. As soon as he touched one of the lower branches a very angry flying squirrel popped out and dive bombed him. Ken was swatting his arms at the little guy and had me really laughing at him. I asked him if he'd never seen a flying squirrel before and he said he had not. He told me he'd already been "attacked" by a couple of them and he wondered how many more there were. With the house being fairly small I didn't see how there could be too many more, but every time Ken would start in on those lower branches another little squirrel would pop out and sail towards him. I stood there and counted eight or nine squirrels as they came out of that house. Put that with the ones that he said previously came out and it would have been close to a dozen. They were packed in there like pickles in a jar. I've seen flying squirrels aplenty in Tennessee (one in my living room) when I lived there, but that was the first time I've ever seen any here in Georgia. And I haven't seen any since, but I know they're out there. They either just keep to themselves or blend in with the other squirrels, I suppose. We might have never seen the ones we did see if Ken hadn't been working on the bottom of their tree. Of course, I can't say I blame them for being shy if they've ever seen Ken getting after their non-flying cousins. I'm surprised they chose to live here at all.
Yes I have although not one like that. Back in early 2000ish, I was working my years later retail job. There had been a news cast that morning and some woman made mention of a flying squirrel. My boss came in and several told him the funny lady on radio had mentioned about a flying squirrel. The boss man calls a freind of his who happened to have have some boxed up from a promotion years earlier that went bad. Bossman asked for a few. He then called radio station and told them we had a few of the flying monkeys. It was total panic after they arrived. Sold out within the hour . Had to have 500 Fed xd in from another store,they continued to sell fast and furious. These were thin, brown colored, and long. If you stretched them out and let go, the monkey would fly thru the air. We had to continue to find those things until everyone ran out of them. Traffic was backed up at our store, with people wanting to buy the flying monkey. It is something none of us could ever forget after that day. Ours were a bit thinner, and darker colored, and cost nothing compared to the asking price today.
I've seen plenty of chipmunks in my day, but never a flying squirrel. ps: Loved the vid. No bird feeder is safe. And there's a whole series of these (boat, rocket ship, flying saucer, etc)
I have only seen one when my father took me for a walk in the woods when I was very young. There aren't even any trees there anymore; never mind squirrels.
I found a young flying squirrel laying in the front lawn one day. Don't know how it got there. Maybe a cat was playing with it ??? Made a circle out of a roll of hardware cloth with plywood on top, and kept it in the house for a couple of weeks. It would hide inside an old sock all day. After I turned the lights out and went to bed it would come out and make noise. They have big eyes. I made a wood house for it. Fastened the house to a tree out in the country in the woods and left it. I hope instinct took over.
Sometimes there are 12 or more squirrels in our front yard feasting on the acorns. I'll jerk the front door open and yell "HAAAAAA" and, believe me, they fly.......