Everybody knows that blue birds nest in spring and summer.
The rest of the year bird
boxes are empty.

Really?

Ever thought of going out on a winter’s day and checking your
bluebird boxes? Carefully
open the top and look inside.

You might be surprised to find a globular nest inside about
the size of a grapefruit.
It’s made of strips of inner bark from yellow poplar twigs or
grass stems or other such
materials.

To look inside, get a couple of little sticks — about the
size of chopsticks. Gently
tease a hole in the top of the nest. Don’t do this with your
fingers. The resident might
bite!

Do you see something furry, soft and silky with large eyes?
What is it? A flying
squirrel.

Flying squirrels often use bluebird boxes for their nests.
They prefer a box mounted on
a tree or on a post in a grove of hardwood trees. For best
results, place the house with
the hole right next to the trunk.

Boxes out in the middle of clearings are less desirable
because flying squirrels like
to jump from the house to a tree rather than run along the
ground.

Flying squirrels are tiny squirrels, smaller than a chipmunk.
The body is about five
inches long plus four inches of tail. There are two species. The
southern flying squirrel
has a clear white underside and the northern species has a sooty
white underside.

Loose folds of furry skin between the front and back legs
form the sails with which
they glide, or "fly," from tree to tree.

To attract both flying squirrels and bluebirds to your wild
garden, put a box intended
for bluebirds in the middle of the garden or yard — out away
from the trees. The
bluebirds seem to know this is a good place. The squirrels,
however, will prefer a box in
the woods.

In fall and midwinter, several flying squirrels may crowd
into one bird box for a day
of sleeping, but before bearing her young, a pregnant female is
likely to take over the
box for her family and drive off visitors.

The young are born in winter and spring. To encourage flying
squirrels to use a bird
box, fill it half-full with soft rags. They will use these for
nesting material.

Flying squirrels also nest in natural tree cavities and in
leaf nests made by gray
squirrels. In the deep south, they may take refuge in Spanish
moss.

Sometimes after dark, you can hear a faint, high-pitched
squeaking coming from up in
the trees. This is the flying squirrels’ call.

When they’re active at night, they’re vulnerable to being
caught by owls. By day, rat
snakes may catch them in their nests.

Don’t worry about this, though. Flying squirrels have about
three young at a time, and
their populations quickly replace such losses.

You can attract flying squirrels to a bird feeder with
nutmeats, peanut butter and
sunflower seeds. The feeder need not be fancy — a board nailed
to a tree trunk will do.
Nursing females are especially likely to visit feeders in
spring.

Flying squirrels will also eat bits of meat — surprisingly
to some, flying squirrels
are predators. They often eat nestling birds and insects, and
flying squirrels have also
been known to attack, kill and eat mice.