When we first came to Bearskin, we’d never seen a flying squirrel. The first time we saw one up close was on a winter night when we spotted what we thought was a red squirrel clawing its way up the our screen door in the dark. There was something so “off” about this squirrel – its eyes bugged out and its tail had no fluff. When we got close, we realized that it wasn’t a red squirrel at all, but a northern flying squirrel.
Minnesota has two species of flying squirrels: northern flying squirrels and southern flying squirrels. But like us before we came to the Gunflint Trail, many people have never seen one and are surprised to learn that we have them in our state. It’s not that flying squirrels are rare, they’re just nocturnal and hard to spot in the dark forest. Luckily, Bearskin is a great place to see one of them gliding from tree to tree.
Can flying squirrels really fly?
Flying squirrels don’t actually fly, they glide using a parachute-like membrane called a patagium that stretches between their wrists and ankles. Their glides average about 60 feet, but they have been known to fly up to 300 feet!
We’ve tried many times to get our own photos of them flying from the bird feeder on our deck, but they’re so fast that we only ever capture a blur.
Northern vs southern flying squirrels
If you see a flying squirrel in the Twin Cities or farther south, it’s a southern flying squirrel. Up here, it’s a northern flying squirrel. But somewhere in the middle, things are in flux. As the climate changes, the southern species is moving north at a rapid rate – one study in Ontario found their range is moving by 12 miles per year. In areas like Duluth, both species currently coexist.
It’s unclear what the northward march of southern flying squirrels will ultimately mean for their northern cousins, but the southern flying squirrels seem to have the advantage. They’re known to push northern squirrels out of their tree cavities, and they carry a parasite that can infect northerns. There are also concerns about hybridization. Northern squirrels rely on fungi that can only be found in coniferous forests (and they help our ecosystem by spreading that fungi through their droppings), but southern flying squirrels are more adaptable to different environments.
As far as we know, there are still no southern flying squirrels up here, but if you think you see one, let us know! Here’s how you tell the difference:
Both varieties of squirrel have glossy, light brown coats, and big dark eyes. Southern flying squirrels are about the size of a chipmunk and have a totally white underside, while northern flying squirrels are slightly bigger, with a gray underside.
The life of a flying squirrel
Northern flying squirrels eat a variety of foods, including plants, insects, fungi, tree sap, and bird eggs. They mate in early spring and have 3-5 babies in a tree cavity about five weeks later. The young squirrels take their first flights at around 3 months old.
When not raising their young, flying squirrels change nests frequently. In the winter, a group of them might move into the same nest to keep warm.
Here in the northwoods, flying squirrels face many predators, including owls, pine martens, foxes, bobcats, lynx, and wolves. Their main defense against these larger animals is that they’re great at hiding in the trees and can glide away quickly – the same things that make it hard for us to catch a glimpse or take a photo.
Are flying squirrels endangered?
Southern flying squirrels are abundant and not considered threatened or endangered anywhere. Northern flying squirrels aren’t given any special status in Minnesota either, but in neighboring Wisconsin they are listed as a species of special concern.
We’re one of the few places in the state that has only northern flying squirrels. Look above you at night and you may see one gliding through the trees – or to your cabin birdfeeder in the winter!
