Holy Glaucomys!

Sure, this may not be very birdy, but it’s just too blog-worthy to pass up.  In an earlier post I mentioned our resident chipmunk.  Recent observations have proven the house dwellers to be flying squirrels.  How embarrassing, shouldn’t I have known this?  I mean, we sat outside in the yard all summer watching the cute little buggers glide back and forth over our heads between the willow trees – joking about how they are probably who we hear in the walls... 

The more I think about it, the more it makes sense.  Let me remind you that our house is 172 years old and will likely never be rodent proof. By this time last year I had live-trapped and relocated over 23 mice and (1 shrew) from our house.  This year there have been zero mice, absolutely none.  Ahhhh, cute fuzzy, carnivorous Glaucomys – could you be responsible for keeping the Peromyscus population within our walls to a minimum?  I think so. 

 

Anyone who has spent time live-trapping small mammals knows what a shrew smells like.  It’s a musky, greasy, stringent, rotten smell that tells you who is in your trap before you’ve even gotten to it.  The sad part is that their high metabolism can cause fairly quick trap mortality so it always feels good to release a live one.  Though I’ve had some strange looks when I say “I smell a shrew”...and no, I was not suffocating this big ol’ Northern Short-tailed Shrew, they have nasty, toxic saliva and the bag is a common way to process small rodents while live-trapping...  

 

 

The last time we had to shovel snow off the roof two little flat-bodied gray beings were spotted running under the soffit. New arrangements of insulation have been discovered. The scurrying in the walls continues.  But now we’ve had a breach.  Frequent signs of kitchen invasion are cropping up...

The other night we heard a crash-boom-bang commotion in the bathroom upstairs.  Who was up there you ask?  This guy...please excuse the toilet brush and plunger - but they make for good size reference...

Busted!  He/she was rather large for a flying squirrel, and REALLY, REALLY fast.  I still couldn’t tell you if it was a Northern or a Southern.  ANY IDEAS?!  The cheeks didn't look white under it's eye, but then it doesn't appear to have a dark tipped tail either.  Don't forget it was big and juicy.  Yeah, some wildlife biologist I am.  But we're all always learning and I have to admit that I’ve never seen a creature move that quick.  And I felt kind of bad even taking this one photo.  I hung the throw rug out the window and down the wall so the little guy could grab on and escape, leaving the light off and the door closed.  I’d like to think it left by the window, but clearly they have a way to move between the innards of the house and the human living spaces.  I believe this isn't the last we’ve seen of them...let's just hope they don't have a taste for electric wiring and that they stay on their side of the walls this winter...