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Just throwing this out there. Has anybody noticed that the black squirrels are slowly moving over to the west side? Or are black squirrels only an east-side thing? It seems I've seen more and more black squirrels around Hamtramck recently. Or am I just nuts. [[Probably more likely!) :p
Growing up in Detroit, I don't ever remember seeing black squirrel at all. We moved to Almont in 73 and it seemed like that's all they had here. Now, I see brown with black tails, black with brown tails and plain of both varieties. I don't know what to make of it other than those damned squirrels have abandoned the city, too.
I have noticed that the black ones are moving west. You even see the black ones in Ann Arbor occasionally. Susan Watson in the old Free Press once wrote a marvelous column about how Woodward was the dividing line between the black ones and the orange ones. She didn't mention racial segregation once, but it was clear that that was what she was talking about. However, as with the other boundaries in the metro area, this one seems to be breaking down somewhat.
We have lots of black squirrel here near Ten and Southfield. They are actually phases of the other squirrels. I think we have black phases of common gray, fox and red squirrels. Several of the black squirrels have red tails. We also have the regular red, gray and fox squirrels. I think it is squirrel heaven over here.
We've had black squirrels in Corktown for at least 20 years.
This year's crop seems more diverse than ever. We've got black, grey, brown, grey striped. Tons of them. I think they
are all in my bird feeders. I know they get into the attic and
leave a mess, east through cardboard, mess up the throw rugs, Don't know how to get rid of them.
We would only see the black squirrels on the far east side and Grosse Pointes when I was young. Now, they are seen everywhere. I see some that appear to have characteristics of both the black and brown ones in my neighborhood, but the brown ones, that were once most predominant, are becoming fewer.
Any biologists/zoologists out there, who might explain the origins of both?
One rascal has gotten more tomato snacks than we have from our plant this year...even after we sprinkled cayenne pepper on the vine, which has discouraged squirrels in the past.
I talked about this with some friends last weekend who are also transplants to NYC from the Detroit area. I don't remember ever seeing a black squirrel west of Woodward before I went to college. Now when I visit I see them all over northwest Detroit and in the northwest burbs.
http://www.michigandnr.com/publicati.../Squirrels.htm
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There are six species of squirrels in Michigan. The red and eastern gray squirrels can be found in both Michigan Peninsulas, whereas the southern flying, and eastern fox reside only in the Lower Peninsula. Lastly, the northern flying squirrel can found in the northern Lower Peninsula and entire Upper Peninsula
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Black squirrels are simply melanistic phases of the gray squirrels. The two commonly interbreed and litters may contain both color types
That is exactly the situation that I remember, all the way from growing up in the 1960's through leaving Michigan for good in 2002. I lived in eastside Detroit through through the 80's and Grosse Pointe Woods after that, and with only very few exceptions on either side, remember seeing just about all brown squirrels in Detroit and just about all black squirrels in the Pointes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobl
There are a lot of black squirrels on the east side of Wayne and the far south and eastern sides of Westland. I've lived in Westland my entire life and only ever saw brown ones. When I went to Wayne Memorial High School, I saw black-haired ones on a normal basis.
I had no idea they could interbreed. How fascinating!
The black squirrels seem to dominate Oak Park. The black squirrels seem to be more daring than the brown squirrel. I notice how they run right up toward your tire or stop in alignment with your tire. Each time I catch my breath and close my eyes in fear of having hit one, then I look through my rear view mirror and they made it across or back, nonetheless there not road kill.
We always had mostly black squirrels in the Indian Village area, with only a smattering of other colors.
Just saw a news bulletin that talked about "White Squirrel Flight" as thousands of White Squirrels are fleeing in sheer panic over the movement of Black Squirrels into their turf.Quote:
Originally Posted by Detroitnerd
I have noticed that of the flattened squirrels I've seen in Hamtramck this month, none was black. Maybe they're spryer?
Maybe the brown ones are all just committing squirrelicide.
Preserve stated "leave a mess, east through cardboard, mess up the throw rugs, Don't know how to get rid of them. "
Preserve
Try moth balls. I had unwanted racoons and squirrels about 10 years ago. I used a trap and attempted to remove them, but they kept coming back
I was told to try moth balls,and sure enough, they left within 3 days........its cheap too, no need to use a critter control agency........Jane
That's nuts. :rolleyes:
I've seen one black squirrel runnning around my street and never see more than the one. I'm in Aviation sub, Tireman/Wyoming area.
Always saw them down in Lafayette Park while visiting relatives who live in the area.
I am so glad you posted this, I have lived in Detroit for a very long time and mostly on the west side. I lived on the east side for a few years in the late 80's, and that's when I first saw a black squirrel. I have been living right on the east west border for the last 15 years and the area was populated exclusively with brown squirrels but somewhere about 10 years ago I began noticing the rise in black squirrel population. Now if I see a brown squirrel I pray it makes it back to the far west side before night fall.
When I lived in Ferndale I seen the black squirrels all over the place. I worked across the street in detroit. Never seen one for 15 years until just within the past year or so. He made his way over from Ferndale. Squittish, nervous little suckers, the black squirrels.
When I was younger, and I am old. Squirrels actually hibernated in Detroit. You would never see one in the winter. Now, they do not hibernate and you see them all winter long. Lot of Geese also stay all winter. Back then you never saw any in the winter. Global warming? :)
When people from the suburbs ask me why I moved out of SW Detroit, I always tell them "because the blacks were moving in" and they get all shocked and indignant. Then I explain that the neighborhood just isn't the same since the black squirrels moved over from the east side. It's fun to see their reactions. Ironically when I moved, I moved to the east side, so I guess no squirrel prejudice here....
I grew up on Laing and left Detroit in 82. Growning up all we saw were brown squirrels - only saw black ones at Balduck. When I last was up in Detroit in 2003, all I saw there were the black ones.
The urban legend that we heard as kids growing up near Balduck Park on the far east side... was that when Edsel & Eleanor Ford built their Grosse Pointe Shores Gaukler Pointe estate in the 1920s, they imported a lot of materials from England in order to make their Cotswold style house appear authentically English. And among the imports were black squirrels.
Has anyone else ever heard this story?
Interesting post. I think we are about the same age.Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Dog
Canada Geese were actually thought to be in danger of extinction in the late 1950s. Apparently, DDT was wreaking havoc with their eggs.
Now, they have abundant food and shelter. No need to fly south?
Our neighborhood squirrels still build their large nests in the trees, and spend much of the winter there. Some, however, seem to be semi tame, and take advantage of the many people who feed them while attempting to feed the birds all winter.
I think we are looking at adaptation rather then any global warming that may be happening.
I live in the Wayne State/ New Center area and they've started to populate our area over the next two years. Before that they were mainly downtown! LOL!
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Originally Posted by Detroitnerd
ROTFL! :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Trumpeteer
I always thought the black squirrels were just adolescent brown squirrels. That could be why they're more skiddish and playful.
I've NEVER seen a white squirrel, though I have seen gray/white.
In the late 60s Black Squirrels inhabited only the more densely forested northeast corner of Grant Park in Utica. Over the years they gradually displaced the native brown Fox Squirrels throughout the whole park. There are not many Fox Squirrels left today. I'd heard that the Black Squirrels originally came from Canada but that might just be someone's guess.
The baby squirrel I found in the furnace flue last Spring was a Fox Squirrel.
Albino squirrels and non-albino white squirrels do exist too.
Squirrel fishing. :)
I have been seeing lot's of biracial squirrels lately--either black with brown tails, brown with black tails, or the complete freaks like the one that lives in my bushes. It has brown legs, a black front end and a brown hind end. At first I thought it was mange or rabies, but it is just a full, strange coat of hair. I'll try to get a picture.
The brown squirrels are better eatin. The black squirrels have less meat and are gamier.
All I see in Roseville now is the black ones
I had a couple of problems re. sharing space with wildlife. One was pigeons moving into an attic space thru a hole in the fascia. The other was a raccoon making a nest in a chimney. In each case we put moth balls in a small bath of ammonia. Maybe the moth balls work on their own but the combo with ammonia removed the wildlife the same day.Quote:
Originally Posted by janesback
From when I was a kid until maybe 15 years ago there were no black squirrels in the University District area. I don't remember any grey ones either--they were all the big orangy-brown kind. Now I would say the black ones are predominant. I like both.
I have noticed more black squirrels in Garden City, then in Wayne. I see them here. but Garden City has more.
Seems like Eastsiders are every where these days!
The black squirrels are just mutated versions of the ordinary eastern grey squirrel. Somewhere down the line, one turned melanistic, which means its fur turned black from having too much pigment. The same thing happens to many other animals. That's how we get black panthers, they're melanistic cougars or jaguars. That's also why we see some black squirrels with a grey tail, or vice versa.
With that said, I've noticed over the past, probably 6-7 years that the black ones have overtaken Royal Oak. Just last Saturday I saw 8 of them on a neighbor's lawn and 2 across the street. Never seen so many in one place, and all were black. I too have noticed that the ones that have gotten squished don't appear to be black.
In a book called Weird Michigan, I read that it was Kellogg who originally brought black squirrels to Michigan in the Battle Creek area to get rid of red squirrels. I guess they were being pests.
My dad had a garden in the back yard - closed off alley. He put a line of moth balls between the grass and the garden to keep the squirrels out. We were sitting on the back porch one day and saw a squirrel take a moth ball away in it's mouth!!
You need prayer and your brain needs to be cleansed of that disease known as prejudice.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trumpeteer
Indeed black squirrels are quickly migrating to the West side of Detroit. More of them are in the Midtown Area. They are following the food and the people who had some food for them. It's just as a person feeding the bird-flu carring pigeons. The brown squirrels have to quickly gather some food and defend off the black squirrels in the process.
WORD FROM THE STREET PROPHET.
I was wondering that the brown squirrels would be carrying " BROWNS ONLY" signs in the trees.
I recently saw a CBC news story about the decline of the red squirrels in England and measures to re-establish them by eliminating the native American grey squirrels.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicodeme
While living on the westside in the 80s and 90's we only had brown squirrles, not I live in East Village and only see the black ones. Yet, when I'm on the westide now I see both which I thought was weird. Call it a class issue but I always thought the black ones were better, just saying
One of the things that happened with the Canada Geese is, because they were thought to be in danger, people were robbing nests and raising goslings in captivity, then returning them to the wild.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobl
Migrating is a learned behavior, and these people-raised geese had no one to teach them when the time for migrating came. So they don't migrate; they don't know how. And their offspring don't know how, either, because their parents can't teach them. So we have a lot of non-migrating geese. As long as they can find food and unfrozen open water, it doesn't seem to harm them very much.
There was an interesting movie a few years back [["Fly Away Home") that discusses the situation. In the movie, a young girl leads a group of geese on their first migration using an ultralight aircraft. After that, they know the route and can do it on their own--and teach their offspring.
I've started seeing black squirrels in Redford as well over the past few years.
The odd thing however is that they only seem to be south of Five Mile. Anywhere north of there and all you'll see are red [[brown) squirrels.
Oh Good god it's just a F..ing JOKE!!:eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by exdetroiter
I live in Roseville and we have three white squirrels in the neighborhood.
We have almost nothing but black squirrels near Grand Boulevard and Vernor. Brown ones are a rarity.
Starting in the late 50's lighter colored squirrels started leaving the city, while the black ones multiplied. lol
Its nice that Detroit has them - we have very few here but do have some possums- which can be fun.
Funny squirrel story. While working on a car in my driveway a squirrel ran up and inspected my work. My friend an I joked that the animal was confused about his nuts. All of a sudden if on cue he stole a lugnut in his mouth and ran up the neighbors tree. . . . . . We never recovered the nut. I guess you had to be there.
I saw a couple of chipmunks today. I wish they were more tame.
That is strange ! Its seems like the only road kill I see are the brown squirrels. Are the black ones smarter ???Quote:
Originally Posted by Detroitnerd
White ones? That's so cool! Black squirrels are relatively rare in overall numbers; only 1 squirrel in the 10,000 in the USA is black. It would be a great mascot for a high school; something rare and indigenous.
Let me see if I have this straight - the black squirrels are moving OUT of Grosse Pointe and INTO Detroit!
This reeks of squirrel block-busting...
I think the black squirrels are faster.Quote:
Originally Posted by firstandten
We have too many black squirrels to track right now. I can't remember the last time I've seen a brown one. They've completely taken over my "autumn" display. Ate the corn from the stalks, gnawed away at the ghourds and have now taken to eating the pumpkins. Quick, little fellas, they are [[a little bolder too, I might add).
Growing up in Westland, I only saw red and brown squirrels. In 1979, I moved to Holland Michigan and saw an abundance of black squirrels and only black squirrels. Maybe Meijers [[the Grand Rapids-based supermarket) brought black squirrels with them to Detroit area when they started stores in the area in the 1980s. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Nicodeme
I live in Westland, too [[Cherry Hill & Wayne Rd. area), and lately all I've seen in the front yard are black squirrels. I never noticed them until the last couple years.
We've been getting overrun by squirrels here in Ferndale. We used to have only red squirrels around when I first moved in 14 years ago. About 10 years ago we started seeing a black squirrel or two, then over the years the population exploded and have either displaced the orange squirrels, or have interbred with them.
These bastards are worse than rats. They are constantly getting into garbage cans by knocking them over, chewing through the plastic lid and by ever other means necessary. My neighbor bought a metal can and lid only to find a squirrel opening the lid off of the can the next day. He's taken to trapping and relocation because they tear up his flower garden so much. They're protected with a big fine if you kill'em [[possums, too). I quit seriously vegetable gardening two years ago because they would tear my stuff up -- wasn't worth it.
Yes, Gistok! I remember hearing that story. I hadn't thought of that in years!
Growing up in Pontiac, I saw only brown & gray squirrels. I never saw a black one until my in-laws moved to St. Clair Shores. I saw & still see them by their house. I've been at my current location in west Dearborn about 8 yrs now and just started seeing black ones in the past month.
I remember as a kid seeing the black squirrels only on Belle Isle. Now my folks live in WB and black squirrels are there too. I don't know how old the Detroit Yes archives are, but I started a thread about this a few years ago. Same lively conversation!