Black Squirrel

When we moved into our new home, we noticed that we have a very pretty, solid black, squirrel on the property. Its fur is so black that it’s shiny. We think there’s only one, but it’s hard to be sure. We have grey squirrels too, but as I’d never seen black squirrels before, I had to look it up. Apparently, they are the same species as the grey.

“The black squirrel is a melanistic subgroup of the eastern gray squirrel. They are common in the Midwestern United States, easternCanada, and parts of the Northeastern United States and the United Kingdom.” – from Wiki.

and they are likely the result of an import from Canada:

“The first batch of black squirrels — eight in number — was sent to the National Zoo in 1902 by Thomas W. Gibson, Ontario’s superintendent for parks. Smithsonian secretary Samuel P. Langley, in his report to Congress that year, wrote that the squirrels were accepted “in exchange,” and, indeed, checking Canadian records, Answer Man discovered that Rondeau park received an unspecified number of gray squirrels from the Smithsonian. (They are “doing nicely,” reported park caretaker Isaac Gardiner.)”  - from an article in the Washington Post by columnist John Kelly.

Our little squirrel is very hard to photograph as she’s quite skittish and runs like mad whenever we walk out the door, but I caught a few today as she was digging in the snow by the maple tree.

She sees me already…

I got a little closer… (and zoomed in)

She’s got snow on her head!

Too close! Run away!

Ah well. Some day I’ll get a good photo of it! Also, here are some pictures of the pretty (but cold) day we’re having today. Bright sun, blue sky, white snow! It’s lovely.