I first saw black squirrels in the 1980's up in Niagara. Down here in the Washington DC area we have them. A local newpaper article says they were brought to the local DC area in the 1960's from Canada and have been spreading out ever since. We have some in our area in Maryland, which is 20 miles north of DC, but they are still a rare sight. Down at the Bethesda Naval Hospital they are everywhere.

Growing up in Connecticut I never saw a black squirrel. My questions for the campfire are: Do you have them in your area? How rare are they? Did you see them around your area many years ago or only more recently? I'm wondering if they are spreading.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Hunts4Deer,

We had black squirrels in Colorado and my grandparents used to talk about hunting them in Arkansas, but I have not seen one in years, there or here in Lousyanna.

Black fox squirrels were a fairly common color phase back when I lived in the Ga. Piedmont.

i saw a couple as a kid in NY southernter and I saw one at the ST Lawrence river.in the 70s i also saw one in LA near FT Polk in 84

Large population in ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETARY. Ranger said might be cause they are an isolated,inbred,population.?????If you get to DC go to Arlington and see the Changing of The Guard,IMPRESSIVE,MOVING,SOBERING.

I grew up in SW Iowa and we had them in our yard all the time. Council Bluffs, Iowa is well known for it's large population of black squirrels

We have plenty of them in our area, NE Ohio. Last year I read an account by Daniel Boone, if I remember correctly, about a mass squirrel movement swimming south across the Ohio River and he mentioned many were black squirrels. And it sounded like they were not out of the ordinary.
Chasing Crow

I wonder if the news paper reporter knew what the/she was talking about?

Black squirrels are the result of a recessive gene among the Eastern Gray Squirrel, and when the population gets large enough, they appear. They are not a different species of squirrel.

LD

I found it! Lewis wrote on Sept. 11 1803 about seeing black squirrels swimming the Ohio. And I may be crazy, but I have seen crosses of fox squirrels and black black squirrels on several occasions. I've seen them front half black and back half red with a very distinct line right around the middle, and I have seen all black except for a red tail and I have seen them all black except for the head being red. I saw my first in my home town around 1985 or so and now they are quite common including in the river bottom right behind my house about 3 miles from town. They also seem to be a little larger these days than they were years ago.
Chasing Crow

I've seen several "black" gray squirrels in our subdivision this summer. Course I've also seen a few black whitetails over the years as well. Supposedly, one may even rarely encounter an all black coral snake. The ones I've run across were all striped but who knows?

They are common here in southern Ontario. But the squirrel population as a whole is not that good. If you were in a decent squirrel bush you might see 5 or more black squirrels for every grey. They come out of the same litter, except we have more black then grey. This is fact, not speculation. I am busy trying to teach white tail deer to jump in my freezer right now, but when I get out squirrel hunting I'll try and post a few photo's

Never saw a black squirrel until a couple years ago I was working in Marysville, Kansas. The city park has a sign saying something about Marysville being designated Black Squirrel City. Sure enough I saw a few running around. Never seen any before or since then. Strange.

in northern indiana they have been around some towns for 30 years, i have rarely seen one in the woods, mainly fox squirrels in the country

Seems to me that black squirrels are found just about everywhere...but they are basically concentrated in certain areas of 'everywhere'. I grew up in Omaha and never saw any until I went right across the river to Council Bluffs, then I saw a lot of them.

Where I live now has none, but 60 miles east and they're is a good concentration of them in one woods that I hunt.

It must be in their genes and only becomes dominant when certain individuals meet, then it speads in the area they are located.

Pretty neat looking little guys if you ask me. I still have a goal of getting a black, a red and a grey in the same hunt. I am really leaning toward a multi-colored mount too. I think one where they are all chasing each other around a tree trunk would be neat in the living room of my house...I hope my wife thinks so too. If I get it done, I'll post a few pic's.

L8R...Ken

We have scattered pockets of black squirrels here in Pa. At the state patk on the island near Milton Pa. I saw a couple. Certainly they are not common in the woods I hunt, I haven't seen one that I could bag yet....BJH

humerous story my grandmother told me re: black squirrels. Both grandma and granddad were raised in the Ozarks, late 1800s-early 1900s, when they married they moved to Little Rock, but granddad returned to the Ozarks often to hunt, fish and camp. Grandma told me when she was a young bride they went squirrel hunting up there and she was a novice hunter. Black bears had been seen about camp and made her nervous. Granddad placed her under a tree in a likely spot and wandered off. She said she thought she saw a bear and she yelled for him--then she shot it with a .22! She was too scared to investigate, but when Granddad showed up he found a huge black squirrel under a tree near her...she liked to tell the story of when she mistook that big black squirrel for a bear!

Loyalist Dave,
Here is the Newspaper article I referenced:
Washington Post Article

quote:

Originally posted by Hunts4Deer:
Loyalist Dave,
Here is the Newspaper article I referenced:
Washington Post Article

Fascinating! This is similar to the black bear color phases, apparently, which can range from Black through chocolate to pure white.

Gott'em in western Massachusetts.
I live in CT but work all over western Mass and see 'em a lot...my buddy shot a blackie in the NE part of CT a few years ago, but I've never seen one in CT.

EGAD the sophistry of the sources in the article is astounding! First, it assumes that black squirrels survived because they can stay warmer in winter due to their black coats...., of course it is done without any information of the temperatures in the DC area during winter at the turn of the last century, nor the days of sunshine vs overcast (need sunshine for the idea to work).

THEN compare to the amount of snowfall, and how long it remained, as black squirrels on white snow = dead squirrels. There is no comparison as to the internal body temp of the two squirrel variants, and do the black squirrels actually have a temp advantage? What if gray squirrels sport more body fat on average? LET US NOT FORGET that it would be a possible advantage in winter, but in summer could it not kill them off quicker than the grays? DC gets hot in the summer folks.

The article assumes that finding a dead black squirrel on the roadway in a park = proof that the squirrels aquired from Canada had already escaped..., well NOPE it only proves that a black squirrel got squished. Since black squirrels are a natural occurance in the gray squirrel population..., the roadkill could've been a native, DC squirrel.

An obvious question that the lil' reporter missed..., WHY import black squirrels from Canada to help the gray squirrel population increase, if extinction is the fear? Why not import gray squirrels from other parts of the country? Why so little documentation?

One possible answer..., they thought the black squirrels back then were a different speicies, and looked "pretty" and thought they would be neat in the parks of Washington DC, so they cut them loose. To avoid controversy as conservation of native American spiecies was a topic of that era..., they kept it quiet.

AND a recessive gene surfaces in dense gene pools, and oh look, the densest population of squirrels known to science is in Lafayette Park, DC..., and there you find lots of black specimens, WOW! ASTONISHING!

Squirrel survey?....what they sent out fliers to the squirrels and asked "Do you consider yourself black?"? The populations are not static, and squirrels will roam several miles.., so how the heck can you ensure you don't count the same critters twice or more?

Finally we have this guy who tattoo's squirrels as a hobby..., and geez Louise, since he didn't see any black squirrels, they must not have been there (cause he saw every squirrel in the neighborhood, drugged them with valium, and tatted them up). Of course to verify his study he'd have to drug them again and look for the tats.

DUH! Anybody find it odd that the amateuer zoologist has access to Controlled Perscription Meds!! ?? So this guy strolled into his doctor's office and said, "Hey doc, can I get a scrip for Valium; I need to dope up some squirrels?" OR, did he use some of his own stuff?


Let me be the first to announce a change in position..., we should all support legislation against greenhouse gases, and in favor of government control of the climate, for if the planet continues to warm, the black squirrels will fry in summer.

LD

(journalism is dead, and sience isn't too far behind - imho)