Glaucomys sabrinus yukonensis

www.flatlake.com
On Flat Lake Time
- a Modern Survivor's Guide to Living off the Road System in Alaska - © 2006-2008 Larry Taylor

In the Dead of Winter
The nocturnal northern flying squirrel,
cape folded and tied to its wrists.

         In the dead of winter is an interesting phrase. It seems that nothing would be going on when the temperature is hovering around 34 below and we only have five hours of sunlight. However, I know the muskrats are active from the fresh water clam shell middens they leave in the spring. There are fish still swimming under the ice. And we see the birds, moose, and squirrels all active.
            We discovered one of the things we’ve been overlooking on Flat Lake on the morning of February 15^th, 2005, while walking out to the car. It was warm enough out that I hadn’t plugged in the engine block heater the night before so I went out a little early to start the car so it would be warm inside for our drive across the ice. I had the front flood lights on and was in a hurry to get it started so I could get back inside to get ready to go. On the way out I noticed a squirrel’s tail hanging down from the bird feeder.
            I stopped and walked slowly over to visit the squirrel and see how it was doing, consciously slipping into Flat Lake time. I said “Hi!” and was surprised that the squirrel just sat there looking at me, continuing its feast. That was very strange. Our usual red squirrel would have run up the tree and started scolding me

from a safe height, and I’d never seen it there at night, either. I looked closer and saw that it had a tanner underside and browner back, with a ridge, or fold of skin separating the two areas. Its head seemed more

Our daytime red squirrel

softly featured, with rounder ears, and its demeanor was decidedly calmer than that of our usual squirrel.
            I started the car and went in to tell Gail about our new animal. She stopped what she was doing, too, went out to look, and agreed that it was a different type of squirrel. We were both very curious.
            At work, I mentioned our new animal to Jeff Urbanus, who said right away that it was a northern flying squirrel and found a Web page about it. Jeff knew people who had inventoried the small mammals in these parts and had caught flying squirrels in live traps.
            The northern flying squirrel is Glaucomys sabrinus yukonensis and glides, incapable of true flight. It has lateral skin folds on each side that stretch from front to hind legs. It is nocturnal and can see efficiently on the darkest nights. Its habitat is dense, old closed-canopy forests with logs and corridors of trees spaced close enough to glide between for cover from predators. The mortality rate for flying squirrels one and two years old is about fifty percent, with few living past four years of age. Owls, hawks, and carnivorous mammals prey on flying squirrels.

continued