Rose Dickson
16 October 2008
1615 – 1642 hours
Looking out the window of Matthews 223 on Willamette University campus, Salem, OR, USA
65 degrees, overcast
Staring out the window of my dorm room the strangest sight catches my eye, a flying squirrel. No way- that species isn’t even found in Oregon, are they? I deny this idea when I remember another possibility, just less than a week ago I was holding and playing with naive young squirrels. Could this disaster have been one of them? My heart drops as I refuse to believe that thought. Squirrels would not jump out of a tree, that is what baby birds do right? Why would a squirrel, under any circumstance, plunge to it’s death from a 25 foot tree. I find no logical answer, so I decide to go down to the scene of the accident and take a look myself. With a little hesitation and dreading what I might find, I search the base of the tree. Yes, we’re in luck, no signs of smashed squirrel! I wonder how that squirrel survived, are they like cats? Possessing the ability to always, with the exception of Otis (my cat), land on their feet. I wonder on this thought longer as I decide the mother squirrel needs to keep better care of her children, with or without the nine lives.
1 comment:
Guess what? There are flying squirrels in Oregon! There's a sign at nearby Silver Falls State Park that lists them as residents, and as I've been trying to figure out how to spot one I've also seen them mentioned as prey in FWS's literature on Spotted Owl/Old Growth conservation strategies.
I that's what you saw I am totally jealous!
Then again, a couple of months ago I saw a regular Douglas Squirrel jump/fall out of a tree in my dad's backyard from about 20 feet up and it was just fine too, so (shrug)
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