Flying Squirrel house: 1, 2(bird house), 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, Page cont'd... >>

Flying Squirrel house #2
Photos by John C., 2002-2003 in Dickerson, MD.

ABOVE, LEFT: Photo of a Flying Squirrel taken in the late morning on 9/8/2002. ABOVE, CENTER: A screwdriver was used to gently open the nest entrance without being bitten. I needed to move the nest fibers to see the tail. That's how I made sure it was not a Deer Mouse or a Chipmunk. All 3 have similar looking heads. The squirrel just stared at me and after snapping some photos I slowly closed the door of its wooden home. ABOVE, RIGHT: The house faces north/northwest. It is fastened with combined hose clamps at the top and with a wire at the bottom. It is about 10 feet high on a White Oak tree. It is a bird house that was mounted to attract either Great Crested Flycatcher birds or Flying Squirrels. The house was mounted in my backyard in May and the nest was noticed on Sept 1. On 10/26/2002 a Bluebird looked in the house and what looked like a Flying Squirrel face appeared in the entrance and scared the Bluebird away. On 11/9/2002 a Flying Squirrel was seen when checking inside of the box.

FAR LEFT: On Dec 22, 2002, I added a remote Infrared night vision camera. This is an Infrared photo of 4 Squirrels in the box. 4 Flying Squirrels were seen leaving the box from the inside. One of them returned an hr later. When awake inside the box, they spend alot of their time doing what appears to be grooming themselves and each other. At some points I could see the grooming and at other times I could not. The nest material often obstructed my view. Before leaving the box at nighfall, there were 75 minutes of incessant palsied movements in and out of the nest. NEW: Dec 23, 2002: This new camera was made into a web cam. See the night photo highlights.   ABOVE, RIGHT: The original roof was replaced with a weather-proof extension to internally house the camera and power adapter. In this March 16, 2003 photo you can see the staining as a result of them soiling the inside of the box.

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