Naturally Al Batt

Is Rocky the Flying Squirrel the size of a chipmunk?

Naturally

If you have a birdfeeder, watch for motionless woodpeckers, with their bodies held parallel to a tree or feeder, waiting for a predator to pass. That’s a red alert pose. I try to imagine what the bird is going through. I want to put myself in its feathers, but I can’t, but I keep trying. I anthropomorphize to demonstrate kinship.
Red or Norway pines have two needles per bundle. White pines have five needles per bundle, matching the number of letters in the word "white."

Q&A

“Is there a conifer that loses its needles each year?” The tamarack tree, a Minnesota native, is a deciduous conifer with bright green needles that turn yellow in the fall and drop off.
“Is a flying squirrel the size of a chipmunk, and how does it fly?” It has a membrane that connects its front and back legs called a patagium. Spreading its limbs allows it to glide, not fly, between trees. Minnesota has two species of flying squirrels, not counting Rocky. The northern flying squirrel weighs 2 to 4.4 ounces and is 10 to 12 inches long (tail included). The southern flying squirrel is 8 to 10 inches in length and weighs 1.6 to 2.2 ounces. Minnesota has two species of chipmunks. The least chipmunk is 7.2 to 8.5 inches long and tips the scale at 1.1 to 1.8 ounces in weight. The eastern chipmunk can be 11 inches long (including the tail) and weigh up to 4.4 ounces. So, yes, they are around the size of a chipmunk.
“How far do bucks travel during a rut?” For three years, scientists at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute in Kingsville, Texas, tracked over 60 white-tailed deer bucks with GPS collars that recorded a buck’s location every 20 minutes from the beginning of November through the end of February, encompassing the peak of the rut in the South Texas study area. The analyzed data found that the home range of these deer during the 4-month monitoring period averaged 2,967 acres. Although home ranges of over 4.5 square miles seemed large, the smallest home range was 332 acres and the largest 13,648 acres. There was a general decrease in home range size as deer aged from yearlings to 3 years of age and then an increase for mature bucks. Daily movements in November averaged just less than 3 miles per day. That movement rate jumped to over 5 miles a day during December and over 6 miles per day at the peak of the rut. There was a great deal of variation amongst individual bucks. During December, daily movement ranged among bucks from 2.5 miles to over 8 miles per day. It makes sense that habitat and population density could have a significant effect on the movements.
“I walked with you along a lake and you told me how to tell a dabbling duck from a diving duck by how they fly, but I can’t remember how.” A dabbling duck (mallard, wood duck and teal are prime examples) takes to the air more easily, springing straight up from the water like a rocket because of its larger wings. A diving duck (like canvasback, redhead and ring-necked duck) needs to run on the water’s surface to gain enough speed for takeoff because of its smaller wings and body designed for diving, requiring a longer runway to become airborne. Dabblers are slower flyers with feet centered on their bodies, which makes it easy to walk on land. Divers, with legs further back on the body and larger feet used for powering a dive, which makes them awkward when walking on land.
“What can you tell me about crab spiders?” Crab spiders resemble tiny crabs, holding their front pair of legs in a manner reminiscent of pincers, and scuttle sideways, forward and backward. They come in many colors that help them remain camouflaged on flowers, and can change colors to match the background. A crab spider is an ambush predator that preys on insects. The goldenrod crab spider is the one most commonly encountered.
“Last spring, I heard some ducks on a lake that sounded like rubber duckies. What were they?” Some people call the American wigeon “baldpate” because of the male’s white cap and forehead. It produces a wheezy, high-pitched whistle that sounds like a rubber ducky in a tub.

Thanks for stopping by

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”—Jimi Hendrix.
"You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you’re finished, you’ll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird… So let’s look at the bird and see what it’s doing - that’s what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.”—Richard P. Feynman.
Do good.

©Al Batt 2024

This black squirrel is an eastern gray squirrel. The black color in gray squirrels is called melanism. Some scientists have surmised that black squirrels thrive where it’s colder because their dark fur absorbs more heat from the sunlight, giving them an increased tolerance for the cold. Photo by Al Batt.