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BY PAMELA BOE
My husband and I enjoy
the challenge of outwitting wily predators who , unchecked , would scarf down the vulnerable contents of our bluebird nest boxes every season . Cunning adversaries such as snakes , raccoons , grey squirrels , and domestic cats have kept us on our best game in an effort to prevent them from ransacking the nests of these protected songbirds . Over time , our security contraptions have evolved into such McGyvered designs , ( using duct tape , bungee cords , dental floss , and bubblegum ) that we ’ ve confidently boasted that our nest boxes are safe from anything on the ground . Anything .
So when in our smugness we went to clean our nesting boxes this season , we were astounded to find one of the boxes filled to the brim with acorns . Not bluebird nests . Acorns . How could this be ? No squirrel that we had ever seen could : A ) climb past the baffle to the box , or B ) fit in the 1.5 inch bluebird-sized hole . We called the local bluebird guru of the Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve , Anne Sturm , and asked “ What gives ?!”
“ Oh , wonderful !” she exclaimed . “ You have flying squirrels !” Say what ? We have what ? Turns out ... there are seven different kinds of squirrels here in Maryland , and they are the eastern grey squirrel , eastern fox squirrel , Delmarva fox squirrel , red squirrel , southern flying squirrel , chipmunks , and — I kid you not — groundhogs . ( Groundhogs ? Yep , groundhogs are in that group .)
But surprising news to every non-biologist Joe Schmo out there like me , is that there are actually more southern flying squirrels in Maryland , especially in rural places like the Ag Reserve , than any other squirrel !
We ’ ve never noticed them because they are nocturnal and small — just a smidge bigger than a chipmunk . But apparently they have been up in the trees around us as long as we have lived here . In fact , my husband , not an obtuse guy by any stretch of the imagination , has lived in the Ag Res for over half a century and never known he was living surrounded by hundreds of these airborne fluff balls . We ’ ve even heard them all this time and not known it . Every night in the warmer months
plenty I autumn harvest 2020 37