Flying Squirrel in my Feeder!

I was working late last night and I heard something climbing the wall outside my office window. We've had a thaw the last few days and I thought it might be a raccoon coming out of hibernation. But it wasn't! When I saw this little guy, my first thought was that squirrels don't feed at night.


Then I looked closer. This was no regular squirrel, it was a flying squirrel! Those huge eyes, flat tail, and lovely, silky fur. And it was much smaller than the red squirrels that usually feed by day around here.


Check out his "wing." It's really a flap that goes from his wrist to his back foot and acts like a parachute.


They don't actually "fly" so much as "glide." I saw one of them fly from the windowsill to the ground and another glide out of the tree. (There were three of them out there!)


I hear they make very good pets. Okay, me, my flying squirrel and five cats? Nah, they're nocturnal and we don't want to be kept awake at night, right?