owenclarkin's Favorites

On an Ash tree. The flying squirrels have an amazing ability to glide from tree to tree, sometimes distances more than a 100 feet at a time and speeds upwards to 20 mph. They are able to glide thanks to a skin flap, called the patagium, that connects their wrists to their ankles. The squirrel pushes off a tree and spreads its limbs, forming a square shape with the patagium, effectively turning itself into a sort of a parachute! A cartilaginous “wing tip” on each wrist allows the squirrel to achieve great stability and to reduce drag. Many airplanes have the ability to bend their wing tips upwards for the same reason. There are many species of the flying squirrel around the world, but only three are native to North America - the Northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus), the Southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) and Humboldt’s flying squirrel (G. oregonensis). I believe the species that I saw is the Southern flying squirrel, which lives in the eastern part of the United States, inhabiting deciduous and mixed woods. The Northern flying squirrel tends to live in coniferous and mixed coniferous forests, in parts of the northern United States and in most of Canada. Its range overlaps a bit with the Southern flying squirrel, and both can be found in New York State. However, the place where I saw this squirrel in Queens doesn’t have many conifers, so I’m assuming it’s the Southern species not the Northern. The Northern species is also darker in color than the one I saw. The Southern flying squirrel is an omnivore and will eat such things as seeds, buds, flowers, nuts, insects, mycorrhizal fungi, eggs, nesting birds and carrion. All three of the North American species are known to fluoresce a pink color under UV light!

This tree has been pruned so many times that its branches are growing vertically. It's growing near someone's house. I am thinking it wasn't planted. I haven't heard of people planting Black oaks. It was probably planted by a squirrel long ago.

Very rough leaves.

Veins bifurcating, i.e., the primary vein splits into two veins going in different directions from the original direction of the primary vein (rather than the primary vein shooting off a vein to the side, but itself continuing in the same direction, as happens sometimes w Ulmus americana). The buds are pubescent. Leaves wider than those of Ulmus americana.