Twice in the past couple weeks I have seen black squirrels scampering around yards in my neighborhood. I don't have any way of knowing if it was the same squirrel, but the distance between the two sightings suggests they were different. I have lived in this neighborhood -- near Zeman Elementary -- for nearly seven years. These are the first black squirrels I have seen around here. Unfortunately, I doubt they will ever move in too close to my house. The neighbor's cats make sure that squirrels don't stay in my yard for long.
Lincoln has a few pockets of black squirrels. I know there's at least one pocket starting along 40th Street near Campbell's Nursery and extending west toward the Country Club neighborhood. And if I remember right, it seems that somebody once told me there's a pocket in Bethany.
Are there black squirrels in your neighborhood? Are you as drawn to them as I am?
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The South Bottoms is full of black squirrels. I also used to see a lot of them in the Near South neighborhood, and in Antelope Park.
There are several black squirrels that live in the trees around the Governor’s Mansion. And every once in awhile I see one in my neighborhood, east of Holmes Lake.
I grew up in Lincoln and lived here for the first 27 years of my life and never saw a black squirrel. Then when I moved back six years ago and bought a house over by Southeast High, I immediately saw a few black squirrels in the neighborhood. It’s funny, though: It’s almost like there is squirrel segregation going on, because I see them down the block, but never on my block.
I’ve seen a few just north of 20th and Superior and along Touzalin in Havelock.
When I lived over by Lincoln High there were tons of them. That was a long time ago though…
I lived in Davenport, IA for a few years before moving here and there were a good amount up there. I was told that they are Asian squirrels. The Rock Island Arsenal is right across the river, which leads to a lot of military personnel living in the area. I guess one of the officers brought a few of the squirrels back to the area after WWII. Being less familiar with the area here, is something similar possible?
From what I understand, black squirrels are one of the different colorations of eastern gray squirrels. Most squirrels I’ve seen around are fox squirrels, but sometimes its hard to tell the difference between eastern gray squirrels and fox squirrels if the coat is similar unless you look really hard. Lincoln and the Great Plains are about at the edge of the eastern gray squirrel’s range, but black squirrels are pretty common in the Midwest and especially Canada. Wikipedia says they may have been the dominant color for eastern gray squirrels in pre-settlement times.
I’ve seen them at 24th and e st and as far east as Cheney.
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