Hokey Smoke!

While finishing up the Beowulf review tonight, I heard a loud impact on the air conditioner. Sometimes a panicked cat will jump up there, so I checked it out to see if there was an emergency. Instead, I beheld this:

I blinked multiple times because I had never seen anything like it. Then I realized what it was and was even more shocked. It was an honest to goodness flying squirrel!

For some reason I had always thought they were bigger than this little guy, but there was no mistaking the flat tail and membranes between the legs. I had no clue they even ranged into Minnesota.

It had apparently jumped from the nearby maple tree and made an inelegant landing. What surprised me was the critter’s reaction to being photographed.

The flashes intrigued the flying squirrel and it checked me out in return. Not once did it seem nervous or afraid. It stayed just long enough for me to get these hastily taken photographs and for my father to see it. Like me, he had never seen one before.

I kept an eye out, but no moose showed up to my disappointment.