Sunday, October 26, 2008

The Elusive Black Squirrel

There are several different kinds animals that I have been trying to get pictures of. Some with no luck at all yet. Yesterday I came across one of the main elusive little creatures that I've been after. It was right in my backyard. It's a Black Squirrel.

Until I moved to the area I'm living now, I've never seen a black squirrel. I didn't even know they existed at all. I remember when I was a kid there were squirrels all over our neighborhood. None of them were colored black. They were all a reddish brown, and they were bigger than these new black squirrels I see now. I now know that they were called Fox Squirrels.

I didn't know there were more than one kind of squirrel. I only ever saw the fox squirrels throughout most of my life. Starting just a few hours ago, when I was looking for information on the black squirrels, I found out that there are all different kinds of them. I actually have another post from a while back with a third kind. I put the link below. I know what that one is too now, so I'll have to make an update on it in the future.

Where was I? Oh yeah, black squirrels. Since I moved to this suburb several years ago, I've seen mostly these black squirrels. They're smaller than the fox squirrels I always knew. I was fascinated with them, because as I said, I didn't know they existed before. When I got my camera it was one of my first goals to get a picture of one of these. I actually wanted both kinds.

That was easier said than done. You would be surprised to find out how hard it is to get a picture of a squirrel. After I got the camera, there have been almost no chances to get a picture of a squirrel. I have a few, but no black ones. These are all over my neighborhood, but not when I have my camera. The fox squirrels around here seem to have been pushed away from the neighborhoods, but they are abundant on any of the nature trails I go to every day.

Even with the black ones roaming around here, I never saw one at the right time. I wanted to get a picture of one badly. Then yesterday when I looked out back, I saw this one playing around back there. I made sure I had my camera and went out and used my deer technique on it. It works on other wild animals as well.

Well, I made my way towards this little squirrel, and took as many pictures as I could. As you can see though, the pictures are more than a little fuzzy, because I didn't quite get close enough. Maybe I was too excited, and was in too much of a hurry. The squirrel was really small, so it was hard to judge how close I really was to it. I actually got very close, but things just seemed to happen too fast for me.

In the end, before I could get any good pictures, it ran off as quick as can be. I hope you can see it in the picture. I caught it in mid stride. Not great quality pictures, but cool nonetheless. I wish I could have gotten video of that. It was pretty funny.

Maybe next time I have a post about black squirrels, I'll have super wonderful, clear and up close pictures for you. And maybe some more detailed information about their origins. This time it was just a great adventure just to get that close to it. I got my first pictures of a black squirrel, so I'm happy. And that's all that matters.


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4 comments:

  1. Cool. I have yet to see one live even though there are some around. Great catch.

    I'm 'tagging' you. So stop by and pick up the rules at my place. Hope you don't mind but I wanted to send more people your way.

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  2. Thanks WiseAcre. I still need to do a little better with these squirrels.

    I'm always happy to have more visitors.

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  3. Hey Ratty! We love black squirrels, too. They evolved in urban areas when coal was used to heat buildings and all the buildings turned black. We don't have black buildings now, but we do still have black squirrels, though poor things, their coloration is hardly an advantage these days! Wish we had them down here. Thanks for the pix!

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  4. I think I like that explanation for the black squirrels better than the others I read during my research about them. These pictures aren't very good yet. I'm still hoping to get better ones.

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