Originally posted by Trail Boss
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Unidentifed Ball of Leaping Gray Fur.
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Originally posted by JerseyHighlander View PostI've seen them while camping in the Adirondaks before. Alpine zone... my first thought was maybe a Raptor grabbed one down at tree line and dropped it while gliding. I've actually seen birds drop prey from altitude to kill them by smashing them on the rocks. Maybe got closed up inside while raiding someone's backpack down below tree line and escaped while they were having lunch at the summit. The leaping upward, hopping from boulder to boulder may have been an instinctual escape mode, trying to glide. Possibly a juvenile out of the nest too soon. They typically glide from tree to tree and don't spend much time on the ground so unlikely it lives up there in any of the structures.
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I received a reply from a local expert on Adirondack wildlife and he also believes what I described is a flying squirrel. The specific type (Northern or Southern) is difficult to pin down based on my description. He asked if it was an overcast day (it was; heavily overcast) because it is "most unusual" to see a flying squirrel during the day (I saw it shortly after 3:00 PM).
He explained they breed in late March and the young leave the nest in May and June. He speculated the milder winter this year may have produced earlier offspring. I may have seen an immature animal, possibly on its own for the first time, in search of territory to establish a new home (in the spruce-fir forest). Given the daylight sighting, it may have been forced to travel.
Being a wildlife expert and not a screenwriter (hello JerseyHighlander!), he didn't mention anything about falling out of a raptor's jaws and gliding to a safe descent onto Whiteface's boardwalk.
He said the large eyes are usually what most people notice first. The "wing folds" are normally difficult to see and would've been unnoticeable for the short hops it had made. He said the bounding I saw would not be out of the ordinary for a maturing flying squirrel.
This flying squirrel is now part of my favorite animal sightings.- Female moose and offspring at Meacham Lake State Campground (New York).
- Fisher clinging to tree along the Van Hoevenberg Trail near Mount Marcy (New York).
- Black bear foraging above treeline on Hamlin Peak (Maine).
- Wolverine in Guanella Pass near Square Top Mountain (Colorado).
- Flying Squirrel atop Whiteface Mountain (New York).
Thank you all for your assistance!
PS
Here's that very poor photo of the animal. It was approximately 35 feet away at the time I recorded it. The image has been cropped, magnified (3X), and the area of interest has been circled.Attached Files
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Originally posted by Trail Boss View Post
Being a wildlife expert and not a screenwriter (hello JerseyHighlander!), he didn't mention anything about falling out of a raptor's jaws and gliding to a safe descent onto Whiteface's boardwalk.
Saw a video once of a golden eagle dropping a baby goat from altitude, to smash him on the rocks so he didn't have to wrestle it once he got it to the nest. Kinda creepy when birds of prey learn that other things not being able to fly makes a good weapon.
Sat for an hour once and watched a couple flying rats (Seagulls) bringing live clams back from the mudflats, hovering and dropping them from about 20-30 feet onto a pier below. Smashed them open then dropped to eat the meat. The pier was littered with broken shells.
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Originally posted by JerseyHighlander View PostYou saw a wolverine.?. Bastard. No fair.
Half a year later, someone posted pictures of a wolverine they saw a few miles from where I did. (Square Top and Bierstadt mountain are 5 miles apart and separated by Guanella Pass).
I enjoyed my two days of hiking in Colorado and the brief sighting of a wolverine was the trip's best memento.
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