Re: [SBB] special visitor

["Alvaro Jaramillo" <[[email protected]]>]

Folks

  A slight addition to Bill's note, which some of you may find interesting.
The black morph Eastern Grey Squirrel's distribution varies in its natural
range. Black morph (melanistic) Eastern Greys are common in the north of the
range, mainly Michigan, Ontario and Quebec. In large proportions of the
range of this species the melanistic variant is entirely absent. In fact in
Massachusetts there are isolated populations of black squirrels, and these
can be traced to an introduction (within the native range, but specifically
to a park situation) of black variants from Michigan! So the fact that we
have some black Eastern Grey Squirrels suggests that some of the original
animals introduced to the Bay Area were from the northern part of the
Eastern Grey Squirrel's range. In large urban centers in the northeast
within the range of the black morph there may be evidence that the black
morph is found in a higher proportion in urban sites than country sites. I
grew up as a kid feeding black Eastern Grey Squirrels in the parks of
Toronto, so once I got old enough to really get interested in natural
history the fact that there were grey ones and black ones intrigued me. Now,
many decades later I finally got to put some of this knowledge to use! This
proves that trivia is not useless, it is all a question of timing. 

Regards

Al

Alvaro Jaramillo
[[email protected]]
Half Moon Bay, CA

Field Guides - Birding Tours Worldwide
http://www.fieldguides.com/home.htm


> -----Original Message-----
> From: [[email protected]] [mailto:south-bay-birds-
> [[email protected]]] On Behalf Of Bill Bousman
> Sent: Sunday, July 30, 2006 12:47 PM
> To: [[email protected]]; Nancy Teater; [[email protected]]
> Subject: Re: [SBB] special visitor
> 
> Folks:
> 
> Local melanistic squirrels are a color variant of the eastern gray
> squirrel.
> 
> Bill
> 
> At 12:23 PM 7/30/2006, Richard Cimino wrote:
> >Isn't there a population of Black Squirrel in Palo Alto?
> >Rich Cimino
> >Pleasanton
> >
> >
> > > [Original Message]
> > > From: Bill Bousman <[[email protected]]>
> > > To: Nancy Teater <[[email protected]]>; <[[email protected]]>
> > > Date: 7/30/2006 8:49:28 AM
> > > Subject: Re: [SBB] special visitor
> > >
> > > At 01:09 AM 7/30/2006, Nancy Teater wrote:
> > >
> > > >About two years ago, a COHA swooped down on a black squirrel
> (melanistic
> > > >western gray) in our back yard, surprising both the squirrel and
> human
> > > >observers.
> > >
> > > Our urban squirrels are eastern gray squirrels, an import (like most
> > > of us).  The western grays, seen in the Santa Cruz Mountains are
> > > larger and generally show little or no tan or rufous and have bushier
> >tails.
> > >
> > > Bill
> > >
> > >
> > >
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> 
> 
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