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The Secret Life of the Flying Squirrel

THE STORY BEHIND THE BOOK

 

In my life, just twice--in a Massachsetts forest and my own backyard--I've seen a fllying squirrel glide. A few years ago my family and I began to have other up-close and personal experiences with these appealing creatures. We heard scrambling sounds from the attic. I set a small live trap and caught the first of several flying squirrels living there. I'd catch and release but they had one good entrance place, and returned. I blocked that, and made sure no squirrels were still in the attic. However, knowing they lived close to our house in the evenings in almost-darkness, I stuck pieces of walnuts in the bark of a nearby oak tree. A squirrel would scramble down (from a den way up the tree), grab some food and dash up. Sometimes these cuties were just two feet from my face! Eventually, as the seasons changed, the familly moved to another den farther away in the woods.

 

I've never seen a flying squirrel on our bird feeder at night, but one of my sisters had that experience (in western NY), so I worked that into this flying squirrel book, and

sent photos of our sunflower seed feeder that artist Kate Garchinsky used for her illustration.