Grainy Photo Of The Week: Flying Squirrels

November 20, 2024
Larry Hurley
Wildlife
0 Comments

Grainy photo of the week. Have you ever wondered what’s walking around your yard at night? I’m probably out of date as I don’t have any of those smart apps connected to cameras all around the house, but back in the winter of 2021 I set up an infrared trail camera at my birdfeeder in my back yard in Bethesda.

If you look closely and use your imagination, you will see two flying squirrels on the ground, center and center right. The giant glowing eyes are the giveaway. Flying squirrels are quite common in neighborhoods that have tall trees, but you seldom see them, because they come out at night and, you know, it’s dark. In 2016, I wrote an article about flying squirrels, it’s in the collected articles on Stephanie’s Beyond Behnke’s website, with hints on how to attract them to your yard.

On another evening, the camera picked up a fox, which I believe had just picked up a flying squirrel. Lucky for the fox, not so lucky for the squirrel.

Larry Hurley

Larry Hurley worked at Behnke Nurseries from 1984 until the business was composted in 2019, primarily with the perennial department in growing, buying and sales.

Before landing at Behnke’s, he worked as a technician in a tissue culture lab, a houseplant “expert” at a florist shop, and inventory controller at a wholesale nursery in Dallas. With this and that, ten years passed.

When his wife Carolyn accepted a position at Georgetown University, Larry was hired at Behnke’s for the perennial growing department and garden center at Behnke’s Largo location.

In 2021, Larry and Carolyn moved back to Wisconsin to be closer to family and further from traffic. After 37 years in a shaded yard in Maryland, he is happy to have a sunny lot where he can grow all sorts of new perennials, if only he can keep the rabbits at bay. He also enjoys cooking, traveling, and the snowblower.