It’s a bird; it’s a plane; it’s a… squirrel?

Jul 08, 2010

by Steve Blight

My first exposure to flying squirrels was through a long-ago popular cartoon character named Rocky – of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame. Although I was young, I recall wondering at the time whether flying squirrels were real. As it turns out, they are indeed real, and though not often seen by people, flying squirrels are surprisingly common in the Land O’ Lakes area. In fact there are two species of flying squirrels in our part of the world – the Northern Flying Squirrel, and its close cousin, the Southern Flying Squirrel.

My love affair with flying squirrels began in earnest shortly after we purchased our cottage on Bobs Lake. We put up a simple platform bird feeder and regularly stocked it with sunflower seeds. After a while we began to notice that the seeds were being reduced to scattered shells during the night. One night I decided to stay out in our screened porch to wait and see what (or who) was eating all the seeds. Shortly after dusk I heard a “whump” on the screen not far from where I was sitting and caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure scampering across the vertical screen heading towards the feeder. When I checked the feeder, sure enough, there was a flying squirrel contentedly helping itself to the sunflower seeds, oblivious to the flashlight beam being trained on it. Mystery solved. Moreover, one or more squirrels returned to the feeder just after dusk pretty much every night for the rest of the summer.

The next big question was to figure out if our nocturnal visitor was a Southerner or a Northerner. Although I think our visitor was likely a Southern Flying Squirrel, I am still not 100 percent sure. The two species look very similar, with both having grayish brown backs, creamy coloured undersides, big black eyes and characteristic flattened tails. Northern Flying Squirrels are the larger of the two, but it’s still small – only about the size of the familiar chipmunk. Without the other species handy to compare it to, I was never able to deduce much from the size of our visitors.

One way to help distinguish between the two is by habitat. Southern Flying Squirrels prefer deciduous forests dominated by oaks, hickories, beeches and maples. On the other hand, Northern Flying Squirrels are more often found in coniferous and mixed forests. If you live in southern Ontario you could be pretty sure that any flying squirrel you saw would be a Southern – whereas if you live a few hundred kilometers north of our area, it would very likely be a Northern. However, since we have both species in our area, it isn’t so straightforward. Since the large majority of the trees around our cottage are deciduous, I am inclined towards declaring “our” flying squirrel a Southerner.

Unlike bats and birds, flying squirrels aren’t capable of true flapping flight. Instead, they are expert gliders, relying on their glide membranes – cape-like furred skin extending down the length of the body from wrist to ankle. I once read a description of a flying squirrel’s flight as resembling a “flying paper towel” that can make rapid side-to-side movements and downward spirals. And their flights can be impressive – with the right conditions a flying squirrel can glide as far as 100 meters, or some 330 feet. That’s some jump!

Here are a few more facts on flying squirrels. Like other squirrels they eat seeds, nuts, berries, mushrooms, insects and the odd bit of meat or birds’ eggs if they can get it. Northern Flying Squirrels have been shown to be partial to lichens as well. Flying squirrels mate in spring and give birth to 2 -7 tiny young about six weeks later. Flying squirrels are active all winter, although some can enter into a short-lived deep sleep if the winter weather becomes particularly harsh. They prefer to make their nests in cavities in large trees, and thus are more often seen in large tracts of older forests with their characteristic big trees.

If you have bird feeders that are mysteriously being emptied during the night and you’re pretty sure that it’s not raccoons, perhaps you are being visited by a freeloading flying squirrel. It may even be Rocky.

Please feel free to report any observations to Lorraine Julien at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or Steve Blight at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.