Life Mammal!

Having spent a lot of time in the woods over the years we were thrilled this evening to add a new sighting to our life mammal lists.

At about 9:30 pm I went outside to put a box of books in my van. On the way back to the house I stopped momentarily near the base of a large incense cedar, backlit by the porch light. Out of the corner of my eye I caught movement and glanced up in time to see a silver form sail onto the cedar next to me. A smile came to my face thinking that I had gotten a look at one of the little gray western screech owls that frequent our property. My smile turned to astonishment as the creature scampered straight up the trunk of the tree!

The front door was still open and I called Liam to bring a flashlight, which he promptly delivered along with a pair of binoculars. Thirty feet above us, scampering from branch to branch, a slender gray mammal was caught in the beam of our torch….

This small, completely nocturnal animal is seen by few and has long been the subject of stories, jokes and tales. The first time I became aware that it lived in our area was about three years ago when our friend Dawn captured one in her nets during her northern saw-whet owl monitoring. According to Kaufman in Field Guide to Mammals of North America it is “common and widespread” but the Pacific Coast subspecies lives near the southernmost extension of it’s range. It resides in mixed conifer and deciduous woodlands and a major food source is fungi, it in turn is an important prey species for spotted owls.

If you haven’t guessed yet, Liam and I enjoyed the very rare treat of seeing a northern flying squirrel. Not actually a flyer, this foot long member of the rodentia order spreads a loose fold of skin called a patagium, allowing it to glide distances as far as 250 feet (though 20’-60’ is more common).

We feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to observe one of nature’s true wonders this evening.