black squirrels ?

rebs

New member
I have had quite a few gray squirrels in my back property and now I am seeing black squirrels. The black ones chance the gray ones away from the food and seem to be more aggressive. Are the blacks a different line or breed ? They also seem to be larger than the grays.
 
The squirrels you could be seeing are named (Sciurus niger) they are generally more aggressive and lack the education of the (Sciurus Virgenians) species.
 
There are a good many of the Black color phase of Fox Squirrels in the Mississippi delta.
I have killed a couple years ago.
 
We've always had "regular" fox squirrels in my area. Northern Michigan and along Lake Michigan had more of the black squirrels. About five years ago I noticed a few black ones showing up in some of my deer spots north of here. Last year they moved closer yet and now this year I have them by my stand right behind the house. I'm not sure why but they definitely are moving/expanding. A few differences that I have noticed between them and the regular fox squirrels are that they stay out later at night, they have totally different vocabulary, they are more acrobatic always springing from one trunk or branch to another, and they definitely like to antagonize the regular squirrels. The nice thing is they stand out like a sore thumb if you're into hunting squirrels!
 
I've seen just about all colors in PA. Killed one Black one about 14 years ago. I'd wished I had it mounted. It was a good size guy, and jet black.
 
The black ones here are bigger than the gray ones. They eat the food dropped from the bird feeder and chase away the gray ones when they come to eat. There seems to be hostility toward the gray ones from the black ones. I believe I am going to weed out the black ones. Trap them and release them far from my house.
 
Originally Posted By: misparkzWe've always had "regular" fox squirrels in my area. Northern Michigan and along Lake Michigan had more of the black squirrels. About five years ago I noticed a few black ones showing up in some of my deer spots north of here. Last year they moved closer yet and now this year I have them by my stand right behind the house. I'm not sure why but they definitely are moving/expanding. A few differences that I have noticed between them and the regular fox squirrels are that they stay out later at night, they have totally different vocabulary, they are more acrobatic always springing from one trunk or branch to another, and they definitely like to antagonize the regular squirrels. The nice thing is they stand out like a sore thumb if you're into hunting squirrels!

Michigan black squirrels are a color phase of the gray squirrel not the fox, both can be in the same litter. The differents you observe are typical gray squirrel behavior.
 
when my inlaws lived in paulding ohio(van wert/defiance) they had black squirrels running all over the streets but ive never seen them in southern ohio. Just the northern counties. i would of loved to had one mounted but never got out to hunt up there. Probably bc there are no woods and when u do find a woodlot u get carried off by mosquitos lol.
 
We have a lot of black squirrels here in Council Bluffs, Iowa. We also have red squirrels. The red squirrels don't like the black ones very much.
 
We have a bunch of Black gray squirrels here on the midcoast of Maine, primarily the Boothbay area. Everyone used to tell me about them and I never believed them until I started working on the coast daily.
 
Got em all over near one of my ladder stands got one back in October 41yards with the bow.





He was chasing a gray one causing a ton of racket sooooo I stuck him with an arrow lol.


Here's his brother alive and well took this pic this morning from the same stand.

 
On the other hand, there is a whole bunch of White Squirrels that reside on the campus of the Law School at the University of Louisville in KY...At least there were when I attended in '83 and they were highly protected by everyone in the area...They are pretty good size from all the students feeding them...
 
There is a fairly small town in central Indiana that seems to have been taken over by the black squirrels.I have been told they were brought there and released from another state.These black squirrels are just a color variation of the gray squirrel.They have a much smaller body than the fox squirrels that are native to Indiana.It is odd that they seem to run off all the fox squirrels even though they are quite a bit smaller than the fox squirrels.Now it looks like the only squirrel that lives in and around this small town are the black squirells.I wonder if anyone has any ideas as to why the black squirrels have basicly taken over this whole town and ran all the fox squirrels off.This area used to be loaded with fox squirrels before some one brought and released the black squirrels.I have heard of gray squirrels living in southern Indiana but from central Indiana to northern Indiana I have seen fox squirrels only except for this little town of about 5 thousand people.And these black squirrels do seem to be even moe aggressive than the bigger fox squirrels.Trying to type on this phone is ruff - can't wait to get back to computer!
 
NY black squirrels are a color phase of the gray squirrel, gray and black both can be in the same litter. Simple example of dominant / recessive color traits in squirrels My son's first was a black squirrel. It made a great mount. Still, I love seeing them chase around. Pure fun.
best thoughts
imlvt
 
I first seen black squirrels in Archbold Ohio, back in the early 70's when I was just a kid. Supposedly some guy had brought two pair in from Canada and released them. I don't know if that was true or not.

Back then everyone thought they were neat and protected them, I no longer live in NW Ohio, but have been told that all you see now is black squirrels in that town.

I live now in East Central Indiana and see all grays and reds. I've noticed that grays seem to be more into playing while the reds seem to do nothing but work.
 
Originally Posted By: Joshysquash81We have a bunch of Black gray squirrels here on the midcoast of Maine, primarily the Boothbay area. Everyone used to tell me about them and I never believed them until I started working on the coast daily.

I traveled up to Boothbay on vacation when I was a kid. We went whale watching and lobstering. Can't do that in PA! What a really good area. Didn't see any black squirrels, though. Maybe I should have looked harder on Squirrel Island, LOL.
 
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As a native of Council Bluffs, IA the black squirrels were common in the town (no grey ones there)but as the years went by they seemed to spread east out of town, as a yountster hunting they were never harvested.
Now they are very common troughout the area, and are they same size as the the fox squirrels that were common. I always thought that the black ones were a mutation of the bigger fox squirrels.
They look bigger than the grey ones that are common in northern Iowa, etc.
Just my take on it all.
 
We have them here in Colorado,except they are the size of the Red Fox squirrels. I used to hunt them in the mountains West of Denver. They aren't social so when you find them they are far apart and there isn't any other squirrels around.
 


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