Black squirrels are a sight to see

A few months ago we bought a new house. It’s not actually new, but a fixer-upper, so it’s just new to us.

While we won’t move in for a few months, we hang out there on the weekends to take in the view, go for boat rides and fish from the pier. In the past, to seek nature time we’ve had to hop in the car and pick a destination.

At this new house, we have a lot to observe right outside our own door. The rocking chairs I bought for our anniversary this past summer are already on the back deck in their appointed spot and it’s been very satisfying what I can observe as I seek a few minutes of serenity when we are there.

I’ve always enjoyed walking the trails and around the playing fields of my current neighborhood the last 15 years. So, of course I’ve been exploring my new neighborhood when I can.

It’s not difficult to get outside with my baby. I just strap her in a carrier and we’re off. At 5 months she has gained a surprising level of awareness and seems to enjoy going for a walk nearly as much as I do. She never cries when we’re outside walking. Just picking up the carrier puts a smile on her little mug and she waves her arms and legs in excitement. The rhythmic movement usually puts her to sleep before we’ve tread very far.

My walks are good exercise and are a great opportunity to check out the local flora and fauna.

While the new house is only 10 minutes from the old house, there’s a world of difference between the two environments. I’ve gone from a very large planned community to a quiet creekside community. Towering old sycamore trees and tulip poplars are a common sight, and nowadays my pulse doesn’t quicken as much as it used to when I see a kingfisher or sapsucker.

At the old house, I might have gotten lucky to see one monarch during the entire month of October. At our new place, a wide range of butterflies have been a common sight perched around the yard, with plenty of monarchs visiting our bushes daily the past month or so.

But, by far, my favorite creatures at the house are the squirrels. It’s kind of hard to believe a devoted bird enthusiast like myself could be interested in squirrels.

As you know, I’ve invested a lot of money in squirrel-proof feeders. I’ve made a mini-career out of defeating squirrels that try to destroy my bird feeders. Usually, I only notice squirrels when one of my feeders isn’t working properly. Those bushy-tailed bandits don’t waste time. They’ll raid a feeder the second they detect a security breach.

There’s something different about these squirrels in my new neighborhood, though.

About half of them are jet-black.

I didn’t notice them earlier in the summer when we first bought the place. But just lately, now that it’s fall, I’ve taken notice. Maybe it’s the change in colors from green to autumn hues that makes them stand out more. Or perhaps it’s because there seems to be more of them on the ground getting their stores of acorns squared away for the cold months ahead.

It’s hard to ignore the sounds of squirrels scampering around in fallen leaves on the ground. By the way, a group of squirrels is called a scurry.

Quite fitting, don’t you agree?

When you get to be a certain age (which I guess is my current age) you feel like you have seen just about everything. I’ve seen a black squirrel here and there, but as a one-off that’s far and few between. I even once saw a pure white squirrel, in Virginia Beach about a decade ago. And while black squirrels are somewhat rare (about 1 in 10,000), there are places in the United States with concentrated populations. My new neighborhood happens to have such a population.

Black squirrels aren’t a separate species of squirrel. They’re actually eastern gray squirrels. The black color is caused by a gene mutation. Just like everything else in nature, there’s a reason some

squirrels have black fur.

Before Europeans showed up, North American forests were old-growth, much denser and therefore much darker than they are today. Not a lot of sunlight could penetrate those thick canopies of leaves. Black fur helped squirrels blend in and avoid predation. In fact, black may have been the dominant squirrel color more than 400 years ago.

There’s a nice advantage to having black fur in the cold winter months. Black fur absorbs more heat from the sun’s rays than gray fur does. Have you ever seen a squirrel laid out on a tree limb in the middle of the day during the winter?

It’s a sight that will catch you off-guard and make you wonder for a second if the squirrel

is still breathing. But it’s just laying as flat as possible so it has plenty of surface area to take in the heat from the sun. I suspect I’ll see a lot of sunbathing squirrels in my backyard this winter.

Nowadays there aren’t many forests left, so gray-colored fur helps squirrels hide in sparser woods and open areas, like cities and suburbs. And that white squirrel I once saw? Its color was also caused by a gene mutation, and an unlucky one at that. White is a color that’s going to catch the attention of a hawk or owl, and that’s not a good thing if you’re trying to avoid becoming dinner.

I’ve actually always had a soft spot for squirrels, despite my efforts to thwart them from eating the bird food in my feeders. As a plebe at the U.S. Naval Academy, one of my duties was to guard the dormitory, Bancroft Hall, from the yard dogs that populated the grounds. I never did dispatch a squirrel with my bayonet, but I sure looked silly marching around for the enjoyment of the upperclassmen and tourists.

Somehow, during my four years there, I learned that the average lifespan of a gray squirrel is just shy of 12 months. I’ve never wished squirrels ill for that very reason. I just don’t want them destroying my bird feeders.

This winter, I bet those black squirrels will be quite a sight to behold when there’s snow on the ground. You just might find me in my backyard putting out peanuts for them.