Posted on 02/29/2020 8:55:29 PM PST by nickcarraway
It was shortly after the new year when Jim Holton, owner of Mountain Town Station, sent word of an unusual critter roaming around the grounds of his restaurants at 506 W. Broadway just west of downtown Mt. Pleasant.
He reported seeing a white squirrel.
A quick search of the grounds by Morning Sun staff turned up lots of snow and not much else during a chilly hour-long search.
It became a mild winter obsession. Reports were made of the animal on different parts of the ground: near the garbage receptacles in the back, behind Water Works Salon, 502 W. Broadway, delighting members of the Rotary Club who meet at the restaurant on Mondays.
Each report brought a new search. Each search turned up a lot of snow, but not a lot of white squirrel.
As spring loomed nearer in the schedule, taking away the squirrel's natural camouflage and making it easier prey for the hawks sometimes visible sailing above the city, the quest to snap a pic of this mysterious mammal pressed harder.
Word came Thursday that the squirrel was afoot. Another search was mounted.
Searchers first spotted Merlin, Holton's dog, sitting patiently next to the railroad tracks staring at something in a tree between the tracks and the river.
The something was at first a white blur, then a dot. The dot slowly took solid form as a white squirrel, which based on its chattering was clearly not happy with the presence of predators.
While the one predator sat beneath it, the other predator snapped a few pics and let it be. Word was sent later that the squirrel eventually managed to scamper off safely.
A copy of the photo was sent to the wildlife biology program at Michigan State University for full identification. A quick search of white squirrel fan sites on the Internet suggests that all-white examples of Eastern gray squirrels wouldn't be so uncommon if their color scheme was better suited for the entire year instead of just winter.
There are three that visit our bird feeder every day. 3/4 of mile down the road there’s another colony of 1/2 dozen or so.
My son has a pic of one of those Brevard squirrels flat as a pancake on the road asphalt.
I have totally black red squirrels. They really stand out, draw attention.
"When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead
And the white knight is talking backwards
And the red queen's off with her head"
Yes, I think the squirrel is Biden, and he's been hitting the mushrooms, and he's also the white knight talking backwards. Can't wait to see what he's going to say next.
The term for such squirrels is that they have leucism, with white predominant but some pigmentation preserved, unlike albinism, in which all pigmentation is lost so that the eyes are pink.
For a time I worked at a VA hospital in The Bronx , NY. There were solid black squirrels running around all the hospital grounds.
White squirrels always get the best acorns.
The abundant black squirrels in northern Michigan are as big as cats.
We had an albino squirrel in our yard for the longest time. Wish I had taken a pic.
Thanks for the link!
Olney just went on our bucket list.
I love squirrels!
This article is like Moby Dick for millenials.
New democrat logo, white rat with a fluffy tail
I’ve seen them there;) Also as a young boy on one of the islands in Lake Erie they had both black, white and grey squirrels....
I’ve seen them in central Florida.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.