A Rare Koala Squirrel?

[Jeff]

Or mebby not.
The RARE Koala Squirrel! IN MICHIGAN! - YouTube

[WV Sawmiller]

Jeff,

   That's pretty neat. Using the dove in the video for scale I assume this is an odd color phase for a Red Squirrel (What we call a pine squirrel or FairyDiddle). Is that what you think he is?

[Jeff]

He's a black/gray squirrel.  They usually are black, or grey. Same nests.  Our red/pine squirrels are about 2/3s this size, and the black squirrels, about 2/3s the size of the fox squirrels.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Thanks. Not a species I am familiar with. We have the big Fox Squirrels, Gray/Cat squirrels, Pine/Red Squirrels and of course chipmunks. I think our gray squirrel is a little bigger than yours in the picture and they don't have the black mask like yours. Our grays are about twice the size of our red/pine squirrels.

   I went turkey hunting this morning and saw and heard a couple. One was whining behind me warning that something was there. I was hoping it was a gobbler but I never saw what it was. Could have been a deer or he may have spotted me and a big red-tailed hawk lit in front of me and changed trees 2-3 times before I lost sight if it. He could have been scolding at the hawk.

  The color on yours looks almost like a chinchilla. I hope it raises a big brood and they all look just like it.

[Jeff]

Are dont look like this either. Thousads of squirrels here over almost 40 years and this guy's a first.

[Peter Drouin]

Looks like squirrel mated with a cat like mine.


 :D :D
Feed it and you might have more.

[Jeff]

He comes around every couple weeks, but im surprised how long he's actually been showing up. We have some hawks and eagles frequenting the area, so he has to be on his toes.

[SwampDonkey]

Cool, I've never seen one in between, and we don't see the black phase up here. They do in Ontario though. I've seen hundreds of the grey ones only, here. But out here away from town there are a lot less of them, mostly just reds here. Never seen a grey on the woodlot, probably 100 red ones. Under the spruce in the winter are hundreds of piles of spent spruce cones. Hungry buggers. :D

[KEC]

One good thing about Red Squirrels is that they are an important food source for some hawks, owls, fisher, marten, etc.. Around here, the gray squirrels come in a fair numbers of color variations, though the majority are the "normal" gray. And they feed several predators too.

[thecfarm]

Now that is different. 
As you, I have seen 1000's of them things, but not that color.