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Cynthia Crawford | profile | all galleries >> Red Squirrel-variant color tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Red Squirrel-variant color

There has been a nursing adult red squirrel hanging around my bird feeder for about a month. Finally we are seeing the "kids". there seem to be four. One has a white tail and some lack of pigmentation. There have been other reports of these variants in Vermont, and I have a part-albino Evening Grosbeak posted on this site from last year. I am understanding that this is much more common than it used to be. It's called "Leucistic". It's got me wondering....why??
Baby red squirrel
Baby red squirrel		 Baby red squirrel-top view
Baby red squirrel-top view		 Red squirrel littermate- white tail and pale coloring
Red squirrel littermate- white tail and pale coloring		 baby red squirrel- white tail
baby red squirrel- white tail
Young red squirrel-top view too
Young red squirrel-top view too		 Red squirrel, white/pale variant
Red squirrel, white/pale variant

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wannnicol 25-May-2012 05:14

we have found a beautiful soft golden colored squirrel in our back yard, who now has babies in our shed. The mother has a white breast and this warm gold color without a hint of red in it . Do you have any ideas?
Cindy 31-Dec-2011 19:47
I know this is an old blogg but we have at least 6 if not more squirrels in our backyard of varied color from red to gray all with white or bright yellow tails. We live in a suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. We have been calling them The Fukishima Squirrels, jokingly. We are very curious as to why the sudden appearance of white tails. Do we have a new breed moving in and running out or breeding with the redder Fox squirrels or is it something environmental causing a genetic disruption. When you Google "White tailed squirrels" They seem to have shown up around 2007. This is the first time we have seen them
Cindy
peebrain 14-Oct-2008 16:46
not much
hi 14-Oct-2008 16:43
wat up
jorn 14-Oct-2008 16:42
hi
Hank Weaver 08-Dec-2007 03:19
We have a mutant squirrel in our neighborhood and he is a beauty. I hope to obtain a photo using a feeder and a camera blind. The squirrel has the normal brown bushy tail, brown feet and head, but a pure white body. He's quite a sight. He was running all over the trees and rooftops with two other normally colored fox squirrels. They were very fat with heavy coats. Makes me think we'll have a harsh winter.
Kay Fordham 25-Jun-2007 13:39
On our property, we've had many dozens of "red" squirrels with variations in color. One has grey all over, and another is what I would call "pie-bald." Other less noticeable variation we have observed is more within the normal range -- more or less red, difference in tail color, etc. We don't know why but the distribution among the many red squirrels we see seems normal to us. Robert and Kay Fordham, Hinesburg
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