Squirrel? Squirrel!

Just two days ago tree swallows started showing up for the first time this year and their acrobatic flights are so enjoyable to watch; one of the wonderful treats of summer.

For the past two summers a pair of them have nested in an old bluebird house that is fastened to a small pine tree not far from our house. Having just seen the swallows come in I went out today to clean out that old house for this summer’s tenants and found a big surprise awaiting.

As I removed a panel on the house so the accumulation of twigs and other nesting material that had nearly filled it could be removed, I saw a small head with huge eyes appear at the entrance and soon after a small and very surprised animal (about a foot long) emerged and scampered a few feet up the tree. A squirrel! No, something else: our squirrels don’t look at all like that.. something else. What in the world? My mind quickly reviewed all of the small mammals I know of in Montana. “Squirrel” was as close as I could come.

I noticed that the contents of the house included two babies and so I carefully tucked them and everything else back into the house. The animal by this time had retreated further up the tree.

A quick search on the internet using “Flying squirrel, Montana” (I recalled seeing something similar from South America on a National Geographic film) immediately produced a link to a website called “Montana Field Guide” and a photo of my strange animal, labeled “Northern Flying Squirrel, Glaucomys sabrinus“. I had no idea there was such a thing in these parts! A call to our local wildlife biologist with the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks confirmed it, and I was told that not only are they not rare, but they are quite common and plentiful, however seldom seen because they are nocturnal.

After watching for awhile from a respectful distance, I saw the mother come back down the tree and re-enter the house, unfortunately in poor light conditions and right at the useful limit of my 300mm lens. 

Northern Flying Squirrels occur from Alaska through most of Canada, southward to the mountains of southern California, southern Rocky Mountains, western South Dakota, Great Lakes Region, and southern Appalachians.

Their diet consists largely of fungi and lichens plus plant and animal material (insects, nuts, buds, seeds, fruit).

One thing leads to another and…

Thinking today about the winter conditions in our mountains, how the trees can tolerate the elements, and the tracks in the snow on Buttercup Ridge, I remembered I had not posted this photo from last February of another species capable of surviving in severe weather, the Big Horn Sheep. (On many winter days I wouldn’t mind having a jacket like the one he’s wearing!)

Hello, bear!

This afternoon, only a couple of minutes after I had returned from a hunting trip, a neighbor called to say that he had seen a bear about fifty yards up the road from our driveway. And when I got there he was still there. I wish the light had been better, but the snow clouds were hanging very low over the river.

Bottoms up!

Rather unusual to see Canadian Geese do this.

And sure enough…

This summer I have noticed a new sign at the trail heads of many of the trails that I visit. It appears to be an interesting new research program that does a bear study by performing DNA tests on hair that is collected to gain a variety of information about the bears in the area. This sign was at the start of a trail I hiked on today:

About a mile up the trail there was a small amount of barbed wire stapled to a tree right next to the trail and about two feet from the ground:

It’s interesting to know who your hiking companions are!

Enjoying the sunrise

It was 32° this morning when the sun came up and this little fellow seemed to think it felt good!