by Roland D. Hallee

This column was a long time coming. A couple of months ago, while driving to an engagement on Eustis Parkway, in Waterville, I noticed a grey squirrel cross the street in front of me. What’s so great about seeing a squirrel, you ask? Well, just a few weeks prior to this sighting, I had seen a black squirrel, in Vassalboro, which are somewhat rare. Well, this particular squirrel was even more rare. It’s tail was white on the tip. Never seen, or heard, that before.

Well, the reason it took so long to write this column is that there isn’t much information on them that I could find. My research took me to different parts of the country, but not in Maine. What does it mean when a squirrel has a white tail?

According to an article on globegazette.com, white-tailed squirrels are not albino squirrels. The color variation can come from a recessive trait that will occasionally appear in the genetic line. … If the mother has a white tail, that characteristic is carried to offspring.

I found that white-tailed antelope squirrels are found in the southwestern United States and the Baja California Peninsula of northwestern Mexico. Their range extends north to south from southwestern Oregon to New Mexico, and east to west from western Colorado to Baja California, Mexico.

So, what about here, in central Maine?

White-tailed squirrels are uncommon but locally they can become common. James H. Harding, an instructor and outreach specialist in the Department of Zoology at the Michigan State University Museum, comments: “These unusual squirrel coloration variations are not rare; they can turn up in any population and are probably related to the same types of genetic (or developmental) variants that can lead to albino (white) and melanistic (dark, black) individuals,” he said.

“Because inheritance of color involves many genes, and can be modified by environmental factors, it is more common to see these partially odd-colored variations. Presumably, these types of anomalies would be more common in suburban and urban areas, where inbreeding can occur, due to partial isolation of populations hemmed in by roads and other human activities.

“In addition, whereas wild squirrels with white tails might be more likely to be seen and killed by a predator, in the city they are more protected from these dangers.”

Of course, the fox squirrel also comes into play. In the western part of its range, it is gray above and rust colored on its undersides. In the southern part of its range, it is black and brown with a white stripe on its face and a white tip on its tail. The fox squirrel is also known as the eastern fox squirrel.

The fox squirrel’s natural range extends through most of the eastern United States, north into the southern prairie provinces of Canada, and west to the Dakotas, Colorado, and Texas. They are absent (except for vagrants) in New England, New Jersey, most of New York, northern and eastern Pennsylvania, Ontario, Québec, and the Atlantic provinces of Canada. More questions arise from this information, but not enough answers.

In Osage, Iowa, Vince Evelsizer, a wildlife biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the white-tailed squirrels are “unique.”

The white-tailed squirrel is also described in old folklore. What does seeing a white-tailed squirrel mean? They can be symbolic of good luck, especially because they’re so rare that you’re unlikely to find them. But when you do, they might symbolize good luck to you in the future. Peace. This type of squirrel is also symbolic of peace.

White squirrels also exist, but are far more rare than a white-tailed squirrel. Albino gray squirrels are the rarest form of white squirrel. Mammalogists estimate that the odds of a female gray squirrel giving birth to an albino offspring are 1 in 100,000.

Based on what I could find, the squirrel I saw that day in October could, and possibly was, a vagrant eastern fox squirrel. It all happened so fast I didn’t get a really good look at the rest of the coloration. But the white-tipped tail was very obvious.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Now that the Detroit Lions finally won a game, can you name the five NFL teams to go winless in a season, since 1944?

Answer can be found here.

by Roland D. Hallee

Thanksgiving is here again, and is the unofficial kick off point for the holiday season. Turkeys are the main fare at the dinner table on that day. So what do we know about the wild gobbler?

The wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is an upland ground bird native to North America. Although native to North America, the turkey probably got its name from the domesticated variety being imported to Britain in ships coming from the Levant via Spain. The British at the time, therefore, associated the wild turkey with the country Turkey and the name prevails.

Wild turkeys prefer hardwood and mixed conifer-hardwood forests with scattered openings such as pastures, fields, orchards and seasonal marshes. They seemingly can adapt to virtually any dense native plant community as long as coverage and openings are widely available.

Despite their weight, wild turkeys, unlike their domesticated counterparts, are agile, fast fliers. In ideal habitat of open woodland or wooded grasslands, they may fly beneath the canopy top and find perches. They usually fly close to the ground for no more than a quarter mile.

Wild turkeys have very good eyesight, but their vision is very poor at night. They will not see a predator until it is too late. At twilight most turkeys will head for the trees and roost well off the ground; it is safer to sleep here in numbers than to risk being victim to predators who hunt by night. Because wild turkeys don’t migrate, in snowier parts of the species’s habitat like the Northeast, it is very important for this bird to learn to select large conifer trees where they can fly onto the branches and shelter from blizzards.

Wild turkeys are omnivorous, foraging on the ground or climbing shrubs and small trees to feed. They prefer eating acorns, nuts and other hard mast of various trees, including hazel, chestnut, hickory, and pinyon pine as well as various seeds, berries such as juniper and bearberry, roots and insects. Turkeys also occasionally consume amphibians and small reptiles such as lizards and small snakes.

Turkey populations can reach large numbers in small areas because of their ability to forage for different types of food. Early morning and late afternoon are the desired times for eating.

Males are polygamous, mating with as many hens as they can. Male wild turkeys display for females by puffing out their feathers, spreading out their tails and dragging their wings. This behavior is most commonly referred to as strutting.

Predators of eggs and nestlings include raccoons, striped skunks, groundhogs, and other rodents. Avian predators of poults include raptors such as bald eagles, barred owl, and Harris’s hawks, and even the smallish Cooper’s hawk and broad-winged hawk.

Predators of both adults and poults include coyotes, gray wolves, bobcats, cougars, Canadian lynx, golden eagles and possibly American black bears

Occasionally, if cornered, adult turkeys may try to fight off predators, and large male toms can be especially aggressive in self-defense. When fighting off predators, turkeys may kick with their legs, using the spurs on their back of the legs as a weapon, bite with their beak and ram with their relatively large bodies and may be able to deter predators up to the size of mid-sized mammals. Occasionally, turkeys may behave aggressively towards humans, especially in areas where natural habitats are scarce. They also have been seen to chase off humans as well. However, attacks can usually be deterred and minor injuries can be avoided by giving turkeys a respectful amount of space and keeping outdoor spaces clean and undisturbed. Male toms occasionally will attack parked cars and reflective surfaces thinking they see another turkey and must defend their territory. Usually a car engine and moving the car is enough to scare it off.

At the beginning of the 20th century the range and numbers of wild turkeys had plummeted due to hunting and loss of habitat. When Europeans arrived in the New World, they were found from Canada to Mexico in the millions. Europeans and their successors knew nothing about the life cycle of the bird and ecology, itself, as a science would come too late, not even in its infancy, until the end of the 19th century whereas heavy hunting began in the 17th century. Deforestation destroyed trees turkeys need to roost in.

Game managers estimate that the entire population of wild turkeys in the United States was as low as 30,000 by the late 1930s. By the 1940s, it was almost totally extirpated from Canada and had become localized in pockets in the United States. In the northeast they were restricted to the Appalachians, only as far north as central Pennsylvania. Early attempts used hand reared birds, a practice that failed miserably as the birds were unable to survive.

Wild turkeys were once native to Maine but were extirpated in the early 1800s from overhunting and the clearing of forests along the coast. But in 1978, wild turkey were successfully reintroduced in Maine by state biologists – and the birds have thrived since.

But not everybody is so enthusiastic about the state’s success in reintroducing wild turkeys, which began back in the 1970s in York County. In fact, plenty of Mainers think we have far too many turkeys on the landscape and blame the birds for a variety of ills.

In some parts of the state, there are a lot of turkeys. And though the state deals with few calls about nuisance turkeys, there are places where efforts to limit the number of birds might make sense.

However, these big birds get a bum rap and are blamed for a variety of problems. If you see a flock of turkeys in a blueberry field at noontime, you might blame the birds for eating all the berries. But there are deer, bear, moose, foxes and other critters in that blueberry field at night, doing damage.

Do we have too many turkeys?

It all depends on whether the birds are eating your crops, or foiling your attempts to hunt them.

Had it been up to Benjamin Franklin, the turkey we carve for Thanksgiving dinner might have been our national bird. After the bald eagle won the honor instead, Franklin wrote to his daughter that the turkey was “more respectable” than the eagle, which he thought was “of bad moral character,” calling them lazy, opportunistic predators.

Franklin expressed admiration for the feisty way barnyard turkeys defended their territory, a trait he liked in Americans, too. It’s not clear, however, whether Franklin knew much about wild turkeys, which ran and hid from intruders instead of defending their turf. Indeed, some Apache Indians thought turkeys were so cowardly that they wouldn’t eat them or wear their feathers for fear of contracting the spirit of cowardice.

So Franklin probably wasn’t thinking about the wild turkey when he considered possible symbols of American courage. But the domestic or barnyard turkey he admired did have its origins in America’s wild turkey population.

Aztec Indian tribes had long domesticated wild turkeys for food. Early Spanish explorers discovered these domesticated turkeys and took a few of them back to Europe, where the birds were bred into yet another variety of domestic turkey.

Those European turkeys came to North America with English colonists and were used for food. They are the birds Franklin seems to have preferred over the native bald eagle for our national symbol.

So, even though the bald eagle is the official bird of the United States, much to the chagrin of Benjamin Franklin, it must be pointed out that on Thanksgiving day, the wild turkey is the national “bird of the day,” even though most of us actually consume domesticated turkeys.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

The Buffalo Bills appeared in four consecutive Super Bowls from 1990-1993. Have there ever been teams to appear in three in a row?

Answer can be found here.

by Roland D. Hallee

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a lot of different birds coming to our feeders, and I compared the situation with the Alfred Hitchcock thriller film, The Birds. Well, I have another chapter in that episode. I have noticed recently the high number of crows, or ravens, that have been hanging around my house. Just the other day, I saw seven of them sitting in my pine trees in the backyard. They are huge birds.

Just to draw a comparison, there was a grey squirrel – either Martha or Stewart, my resident squirrels, are pretty good sized squirrels – on one of the other branches, and these birds made it look like a field mouse. The squirrel was dwarfed by these birds. They were also licking their chops. However, the crows’ stout bill is not strong enough to break through the skin.

Later that day, while driving by the park that is located at the end of my street, there were about two dozen of these birds feeding on the banking that was bare of snow.

Where are they coming from. And are they crows, or ravens like some people are calling them?

Well, to cut to the chase, crows have a fan-shaped tail, while ravens’ tails are wedge-shaped. The birds I’m looking at have a fan-shaped tail. Obviously, there are a few differences between the two species. Most of the differences are noticeable when the two are together. However, crows will assemble in large flocks, while ravens tend to be solitary, until the fall migration.

When you see one of the black birds, identifying it can present a real challenge. But their slight differences in size, anatomy, voice and behavior can help you tell them apart.

Common ravens are noticeably bigger; their wingspans can be 46 inches in total length while the distance between their beak tips and tail tips can reach 27 inches. Compare that with American crows, who’ve got 36-inch wingspans and grow to be just 20 inches long from end to end.

The wings themselves look different, too. At the tips you’ll see the finger-like primary feathers that birds use to propel themselves through the air. Because ravens soar more often than crows do, they’ve got longer primaries. Crow tail feathers are arranged in the shape of a gently-curved, handheld fan. On the other hand, a raven’s tail ends in a point, giving it a diamond-like appearance. Ravens also have shaggy feathers under their throats, which crows lack.

Bill shape is yet another point of difference: Unlike the straight-beaked American crow, the common raven has a curved, somewhat knife-like beak.

When it comes to sociability, the two birds are light years apart. Crows amass themselves in large flocks — or “murders” — and may roost together at night in huge clusters of several hundred birds. Ravens are less gregarious, preferring to fly in pairs or in tight-knit family units. Their habitat preferences vary, as well. American crows generally favor wide open spaces while common ravens tend to hang out in forests.

Both the crows and the ravens are highly intelligent birds. Perhaps the most intelligent. The two can learn to imitate a variety of sounds, including the human voice. Recent research has found crows not only use tools, but also tool construction. Their intelligence quotient is equal to that of many non-human primates.

Also, American crows can learn to recognize the faces of people who’ve tried to attack them while common ravens have shown both impulse control and active planning in lab experiments.

There is a story that indicates crows know how to count. The story has not been substantiated, but it goes like this: Three hunters enter a hunters’ blind. They wait, the crows know they are in there. The crows don’t move. Two hunters leave the blind, and the crows still don’t move. Once the third hunter leaves, the crows know they are gone and resume their normal activity.

Crows also have a good memory, remembering where there is danger, and where their cache of food is for later consumption.

Predators include owls and hawks. Crows will gather together to move an offending or intruding owl or hawk. However, West Nile disease has been taking its toll on crow populations.

A couple of years ago, while fishing on Webber Pond, my wife and I noticed a large flock of crows headed for a tree that sat on a point. Apparently, a bald eagle was intruding on a nest. The crows mobbed the eagle and drove it off. That was interesting to watch.

So, taking all these things into consideration, the large black birds hanging around my house are most likely crows. But the question as to where they come from and why they are hanging around, has not been answered. In the past, I have seen extremely large numbers of crows fly overhead in late fall. They seem to be coming from the river and continue in a northwesterly direction, darkening the sky as they passed. This year, they are making themselves right at home around my house.

Myths and folktales about these birds are almost too numerous to count. The Norse god Odin was said to have talking ravens who’d fly around the world gathering news for their divine master. And a story of Lakota-Sioux origin says that the forefather of all crows was once tossed into a fire as punishment for his misdeeds, hence the dark feathers of his progeny.

I will continue to investigate.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

What do you call it when a player makes three consecutive strikes in bowling?

Answer can be found here.

by Roland D. Hallee

The Maine moose hunting season is underway. It has not always been that way.

The moose hunting season was reintroduced in 1980 on an experimental basis, when 700 permits were issued to residents. At that time, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife estimated the moose population to be in the vicinity of 20,000 – 25,000 animals. In 2007, a wildlife ecologist estimated the moose population for New England and New York to be in the range of 50,000 animals.

A campaign was began in 1983 by a group of moose lovers to place the moose hunting question on a referendum ballot. The initiative failed. The legislature subsequently gave the DIF&W the authority to establish the number of moose permits handed out each year, while maintaining control of the moose lottery.

In 2002, for the first time in 21 years, state wildlife biologists recommended reducing the number of permits, for fear that the moose population may have been on the decline. There had been a high level of calf mortality with the culprit possibly being the tiny blood-sucking ticks that have become so numerous in recent years. Ticks killed more than half the moose calves in northern New Hampshire during a peak year. It was feared the same was happening in Maine.

After expanding for most of the 20th century, the moose population of North America has been in steep decline since the 1990s. Populations expanded greatly with improved habitat and protection, but for unknown reasons, the moose population was declining.

Lee Kantar, state moose biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, stated, “the moose herd is dynamic. While young calves trying to make it through to their first birthday each May suffer from winter ticks that can be debilitating, in the core moose range generally from the Moosehead Region to the Canadian border, moose are abundant. But winter ticks depress reproduction in adult females and combined with moderate to severe overwinter mortality of calves in many years, annual population growth can become stagnant or decline with sporadic increases when annual winter tick levels ease.”

There were 4,030 permits issued this year including the 550 issued specifically for this year’s initial Adaptive (experimental) hunt to reduce moose densities in order to determine whether that can aid in breaking the debilitating impacts of the winter tick cycle.

The moose harvest in 2020 was 2,375.

Kantar continued, “September and October bull seasons have been variable. September had seasonable weather and moderate to high success rates. October bull season just ended Saturday and the week was unseasonably warm, keeping success rates lower.”

In northeastern North America, the moose’s history is very well documented: moose meat was often a staple in the diet of Native Americans going back centuries, with a tribe that occupied present day coastal Rhode Island giving the animal its name. The Native Americans often used moose hides for leather and its meat as an ingredient in a type of dried jerky used as a source of sustenance in winter or on long journeys. Eastern tribes also valued moose leather as a source for moccasins and other items.

The moose vanished in much of the eastern U.S. for as long as 150 years, due to colonial era overhunting and destruction of habitat.

European rock drawings and cave paintings reveal that moose have been hunted since the Stone Age.

Moose are not usually aggressive towards humans, but can be provoked or frightened to behave with aggression. In terms of raw numbers, they attack more people than bears and wolves combined, but usually with only minor consequences.

When harassed or startled by people or in the presence of a dog, moose may charge. Also, as with bears or any wild animal, moose that have become used to being fed by people, may act aggressively when food is denied.

A bull moose, disturbed by the photographer, lowers its head and raises its hackles. Like any wild animal, moose are unpredictable. They are most likely to attack if annoyed or harassed, or if approached too closely. A moose that has been harassed may vent its anger on anyone in the vicinity, and they often do not make distinctions between their tormentors and innocent passers-by.

Moose also tend to venture out onto highways at night. In northern Maine, especially, moose-vehicle collisions are common. The problem with that is the center of mass of a moose is above the hood of most passenger cars. In a collision, the impact crushed the front roof beams and individuals in the front seats. Collisions of this type are frequently fatal; seat belts and airbags offer little protection. In collisions with higher vehicles, such as trucks, most of the deformation is to the front of the vehicle and the passenger compartment is largely spared.

Moose lack upper front teeth, but have eight sharp incisors on the lower jaw. They also have a tough tongue, lips and gums, which aid in eating woody vegetation. A moose’s upper lip is very sensitive, to help distinguish between fresh shoots and harder twigs. A moose’s diet often depends on its location, but they seem to prefer the new growths from deciduous trees with a high sugar content, such as white birch.

Moose also eat aquatic plants, including lilies and pondweed. (We could sure use a few of them on Webber Pond). Moose are excellent swimmers and are known to wade into water to eat aquatic plants. This trait serves a second purpose in cooling down the moose on summer days and ridding itself of black flies. Moose are thus attracted to marshes and river banks during warmer months as both provide suitable vegetation to eat and as a way to wet themselves down. Moose avoid areas with little or no snow as this increases the risk of predation by wolves and avoid areas with deep snow, as this impairs mobility.

So, moose are a vital commodity to Maine, and we must do what is necessary to preserve them, and continue to harvest them responsibly.

Can anyone answer this question? If you have a legal moose hunting permit, you are on your way to the hunt, and you collide with a moose and kill it – and you survive – does that count as your moose, or can you continue to the hunting zone and claim a second moose?

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Who was the last Red Sox player to be named World Series MVP?

Answer can be found here.

by Roland D. Hallee

I know they exist, but just how many are there?

Several years ago I had the rare opportunity to see a black squirrel in Waterville. Last Monday, while driving along the Seaward Mills Road, in Vassalboro, I spotted another one as it was crossing the road in front of me.

In North America, black squirrels are uncommon, with one estimate putting them at a rate of one in every 10,000 squirrels. In 1961, students at Kent State University, in Ohio, released 10 black squirrels that had been captured by Canadian wildlife authorities. The squirrels now populate the campus and have become the school’s unofficial mascot. Their coloring might help them hide from predators, which might come in handy at Kent State: The campus is also home to hawks.

Black squirrels have been spotted in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and now scientists believe they know why. Like many animals with unusual color schemes, black squirrels are the result of a genetic detour. Researchers at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge University, and the Virginia Museum of Natural History, collaborated on a project that tested squirrel DNA. Their findings, which were published in BMC Evolutionary Biology, demonstrated that the black squirrel is the product of interspecies breeding between the common grey squirrel and the fox squirrel.

The black squirrel is actually a grey squirrel with a faulty pigment gene carried over from the fox squirrel that turns their fur a darker shade. (Some fox squirrels, which are usually reddish-brown, are also black.)

Scientists theorize a black fox squirrel may have joined in on a mating chase involving grey squirrels and got busy with a female. The black fur may offer benefits in colder regions, with squirrels able to absorb and retain more heat, giving them a slight evolutionary edge.

According to Mental Floss’ Jake Rossen, black squirrels are relatively rare, constituting just one in 10,000 of the seemingly ubiquitous rodents.

Black squirrels are actually grey squirrels with a genetic mutation that causes them to have black fur. They are more aggressive and territorial than the grey squirrels too, and the result is that the black squirrels will usually run all the other squirrels out of an area.

According to this new research, however, black fur actually results from a genetic mutation. This explains why the black squirrel is somewhat rare, making up for an estimated one in every 10,000 squirrels.

Black squirrels are the same species as grey squirrels, with the only difference being their fur color. The new work builds on research from 2014, which found that the black fur is caused by the grey squirrel having a pigment gene with a missing piece of DNA.

In mythical folklore, the black squirrel symbolism does not mean good luck. Instead, it means solar eclipse according to some legends. Therefore, a black squirrel is the enemy of humanity and needs to be destroyed if mankind wants to enjoy the heat and light of the sun. Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to go out and dispatch a black squirrel just because he’s hanging out in your neighborhood.

Black squirrels normally live up to a year, but some have lived up to 10 years. Black squirrels will eat anything they are offered, often feeding on nuts and acorns, any kind of seed, fruit, insects and even bird eggs. Mating occurs from December through January.

WINTER PREDICTION UPDATE

I’m still watching Mother Nature to see what else I can learn from her signs.

I’m still getting mixed messages. I hate to say this, but the majority of signals from nature are that we should prepare for a severe winter. One of the signs is trees, flowers and vegetables. When leaves drop early, autumn and winter will be mild. However, when flowers bloom in autumn, a bad winter is at hand.

Well, the leaves are falling early, but the flowers are blooming late. I have a wild rose bush on the corner of my property, and it has bloomed for the third time this year. Usually, I get one, sometimes two. My neighbor across the street has two large lilac bushes. As everyone knows, lilacs usually bloom around Memorial Day. Well, these two bushes have bloomed for a second time this year. I have never heard of that.

Grey squirrels are also an indicator. I am seeing more and more of them with bushy tails. Another sign of a severe winter.

Again, draw your own conclusion, but I don’t think we are going to get the mild winter repeat from last year.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

What is the New England Patriots logo commonly referred as?

Answer can be found here.