Friday, April 15, 2011

The "Gremlin" of Eagle Lake

About a week ago, someone told my friend and fellow nature photographer that he had seen a "Gremlin" at Eagle Lake Park in Largo, FL.

That was all Jim had to hear to entice him to investigate. The very next morning he saw the "Gremlin" and photographed it with his camera phone.

He asked me to set up a Meetup for our photo club members to go out and find the "Gremlin". Meanwhile, Jim spent some time on Google investigating exactly what he found.

The "Gremlin" turned out to be an Eastern Fox Squirrel. On Monday evening, 4 of us photographers set out to capture this guy on our "real" cameras. This is one of many photos I took of him. He's playing possum in this tree. As you can see, it was nearly impossible to see him until he moved to change position.

The Eastern Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger), is the largest squirrel in the U.S. They are about 17 1/2 inches long with a 13 inch tail. They weigh a little over 2 pounds. Their color varies greatly, and this particular one is one of the prettiest color varieties I've seen. The color ranges from rust to black with white noses and sometimes masked. They spend more time on the ground than any other squirrel.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Actually, I've found out that this Fox Squirrel is a sub-species of the Eastern Fox Squirrel called Sherman's Fox Squirrel