Black Hills Being Surveyed For Northern Flying Squirrels

PIERRE, S.D. - Game, Fish and Parks has provided State Wildlife Grants funds to Associate Professor Dr. Charles Dieter in the South Dakota State University (SDSU) Department of Biology. The funds will help Dr. Dieter to study northern flying squirrels in the Black Hills from 2005 through 2007.

"We know very little about northern flying squirrels in South Dakota," Dr. Dieter said. "With these funds, we hope to locate the important areas of habitat and better understand the ecology of flying squirrels in South Dakota." Dr. Dieter is the principal investigator on this project, while Melissa Hough and Mitch Greer are the researchers conducting this study.

"Surveying for northern flying squirrels requires much time investment by the researchers because of the intensive trapping efforts required for capturing these animals," said GFP Wildlife Biologist Alyssa Kiesow. "Once the animals are captured, they are weighed to determine their size (adult verses juvenile) and examined to determine their sex. Equal numbers of adult males and females are being fitted with radio collars."

Thus far, 20 flying squirrels have been radio-collared in the Black Hills. "By radio-collaring flying squirrels, we hope to understand the type of habitat the flying squirrels use as well as how large of an area they require," said SDSU Graduate Student Melissa Hough. "Understanding their habitat use is important to predict where flying squirrels may be found in the Hills. Sightings are uncommon because of their elusive and nocturnal (active at night) behavior."

Since they have the target number of flying squirrels collared, Hough and Greer are now tracking their collared animals at night, which has led to some very long nights and short days.

"We are getting many more visuals than I expected," Hough noted. "We look for their red eye-shine as we ‘track’ them by using an antennae and radio (with beeping signals). When radio-tracking an animal, the (beeping) signals grow stronger as we get closer to the collared animal, so we can pinpoint where the animal is resting, moving, etc. Many squirrels will just wait as we approach the tree where they are resting. As we approach, they curiously observe us or reward us with a ‘white flash’ as they glide across the forest. If they are in a snag (which is unlikely at night), we can verify their location by knocking on the snag, causing them to poke their head out of their hole."

Anyone interested in learning more about this project or having information on a possible flying squirrel sighting (in the Black Hills), may contact Alyssa Kiesow in Pierre at (605) 773-2742 or Dr. Charles Dieter in Brookings at (605) 688-4555.

State Wildlife Grants funding is a special federal appropriation to help state agencies focus increased efforts on rare species and habitats.

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