Parkville Nature Journal - Flying Squirrels!

January 2, 1996 - Nebraska just won the Fiesta Bowl and now it’s bedtime. Kirk lets Gracie dog out the back door and follows her down the deck stairs. On the oak tree next to his head, a “thing”lands, scurries upward and chitters.

“You’d better come out here!” he whispers through the door. I quickly sneak outside. Zoom! Thud! Zip! “TSEET!” We pick up Gracie and run inside, lock the door, turn off the porch light and stare out into the darkness.

A tiny gray alien appears on our peanut feeder. It has huge black eyeballs, a furry flattened tail and a loose fold of skin behind its front legs. A second alien lands. I shuffle quickly through the pages of our Audubon Nature Guide and hold up a photo for Kirk: Southern Flying Squirrels.

Flying Squirrels are nine to ten inches long - including the tail - and weigh about 5 ounces. Parkville’s oak-hickory river bluffs provide optimum diet and opportunities for nesting in dead trees.

The loose fold of skin extending from a flying squirrel’s wrist to its ankle forms a glider wing when the legs are outstretched at right angles from its body. The squirrel zips up to a treetop, triangulates its head to judge distance and launches itself downward toward a neighboring tree. It steers using its tail and varies the tension on the flight skin to control speed.

By landing and quickly scurrying to the opposite side of the tree, the flying squirrel eludes possible predators. Strictly nocturnal behavior is crucial for survival, since gliding in daylight attracts predators such as owls and cats.

Although glides are usually shorter than 50 yards, the glide ratio is about three horizontal feet for every vertical foot. This means that from a 100-foot high perch, a flying squirrel could travel the length of the Fiesta Bowl football field!

Does your neighborhood have lots of trees? You might have flying squirrels!
Place a peanut or suet feeder where you can easily notice nighttime activity. Watch and listen carefully. A nearby porch light might help you see flying squirrels before they can zip away.