Chattanooga of all places to have this — I had no idea it was even a thing, let alone the…
Eastern gray squirrels — those cute but pesky rodents who always find a way to get to even the most well-guarded birdfeeders in the right half of the U.S. and into Canada — seem uniform in action and appearance.
But on a recent venture through a park in downtown Tampa, I spotted one that broke the mold: an orange, yes orange, eastern gray squirrel. The species does tend to have tinges of the color in its coat, but as you can see from the photos and video above, the individual is clearly orange.
There are more generally orange squirrels — the eastern fox squirrel in North America and the red squirrel in Europe and Asia — but the one I saw clearly has the characteristics of an eastern gray.
However, I don’t blame you if you think I’m a little crazy because there doesn’t seem to be any mention of such a morph in general Web or academic searches — except for one forum post to WhatBird.com.
So if you know I’m not crazy and have seen an orange one yourself, please tell me in the comments!
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Hi there! Yes, looking at one right now except the female on our deck has an all orange abdomen. We have spent hours trying to locate an explanation as to what we are seeing in central NH. It is definitely a Grey Squirrel and while we do have Reds here in our state, this Orange Grey Squirrel looks even a little larger than our typical grey visitors. Until finding this, we thought we were going crazy ourselves!
This is a short video of the Orange Eastern Grey Squirrel we seen.
I have TWO peach squirrels in my yard. Upper Peninsula of Michigan!
I just witnessed a very light orange/golden squirrel in Central Florida. I actually was able x to get a couple of pics, though he was foraging towards a creek, so it was difficult.
Pittsfield, ME. This picture is the only I could find that comes close to the one I saw! I hope to get pictures soon. Very very orange and definitely an eastern gray!
I was shocked when i found a grey squirrel with a bright Cheeto orange tail, but a grey-black body. i wish i had acted fast and taken a photo but i saw it in our yard so i might have the opportunity to catch a photo next time.