I went to school in Ann Arbor and I do remember the squirrels. Maybe this
has already been said, but I believe they were fox squirrels, not eastern
grays
Mike Wile
(425) 580-7704
(425) 503-5766 (cell)

> ----------
> From: Jacki Bricker[SMTP:seaotter at eskimo.com]
> Reply To: seaotter at eskimo.com
> Sent: Monday, March 13, 2000 2:55 PM
> To: NJPharris at aol.com
> Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Re: Michigan squirrels
>
>
>
> Oh, you are making me SO homesick!
>
> I am from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and yes, the squirrels are a very different
> color and girth. The ones that feed in my parents' backyard is almost the
> size of a cat; he is HUGE.
>
> If you ever get the opportunity, go ocross the river to Windsor,
> Ontario, Canada and see the small, SOLID BLACK squirrels. They are very,
> very cool.
>
> I am particularly able to answer questions about birds in Michigan, and
> varietal clines of some of the species. I acutally worked on an
> NSF-funded study on crow ethology. We banded babies in the wild and
> measured their growth until dispersement (2 years of age), and did wild
> and captive observations on behavior. It was fascinating.
>
> I can tell you that the crows there do have a higher-pitched call, and
> they are smaller in size than the crows out here.
>
> Plus there are the genuine blue jays (as opposed to what people call a
> blue jay out here, which is a Stellar Jay--does that drive anyone else
> nuts, or is it just me?), and cardinals; neither of which they have here,
> much to my chagrin.
>
> I can also tell you that Michigan purple finches tend to have more
> coloration on them than the ones out here. Additionally, song sparrows
> and juncos have different coloration. According to Stokes, the juncos
> around the country are all the same species (which I never knew! I
> thought they were different varieties). In Michigan they are the
> charcoal-grey color on top and white on the bottom. Very different from
> the "Oregon" variety we have here. I think the ones here are much
> prettier, to be honest.
>
> So, what were you doing in Ann Arbor? :-)
>
>
>
> On Mon, 13 Mar 2000 NJPharris at aol.com wrote:
>
> > Hi, all!
> >
> > I just got back from a weekend in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I was
> checking
> > out their grad program in linguistics. It's very much still winter
> there
> > (snowed twice), so not a lot of birds, apart from city dwellers (though
> I
> > could swear the crows out there have longer tails and higher-pitched
> calls
> > than ours).
> >
> > One thing that really jumped out at me is that their "gray" squirrels
> are a
> > definite bronze color, with a golden-yellow underbelly, quite unlike our
> gray
> > and white squirrels. I mentioned it to one of the other students and
> she
> > remarked that Ohio has a lot of white and black squirrels.
> >
> > Any other trans-continental travelers out there notice obvious
> differences in
> > city-dwelling species like squirrels, crows, house sparrows, etc.?
> >
> > Curiously,
> >
> > Nick Pharris
> > Olympia, WA
> > NJPharris at aol.com
> >
>
> -Jacki
>
>
>