Squirrel Harmony

Today I chased a black squirrel off the property. Actually it was me, Cricket and a red squirrel.  The black squirrels (i.e a melanistic Grey Squirrels) are just so large and fearless that I don't want them driving out the Red Squirrels. The black squirrel was the size of a Martin and it would not leave until I was close enough to touch it.

This is the second time one has arrived on the property and even though I've driven them off I always feel sad to have to chase them away from the seeds we put out. In researching squirrels I found this picture of 3 types of squirrel living in harmony.

I have encountered a few articles that give rates at which animals are moving north. It seems to be around 500m to 1km per year. As well animals are moving up in elevation (where appropriate) at approx 1-2m per year as well.

The change in animal populations has been noticeable over my lifetime. It's hard to avoid noticing flocks of massive Sandhills arriving or Bald Eagles flying overhead. If you have any articles on the subject of this change - especially Canada or Ontario specific articles - post the links. I'd be especially curious to know if these are re-populations of old areas or new expansions, and what underlying causes their might be.

In researching Black Squirrels they are actually a fairly rare mutation outside of urban Ontario. Their melanism helps to absorb sunlight during the winter - and I would suspect it is the sort of mutation that could only emerge with a serious lack of predators....

I have encountered the information in a book I am reading and in news articles. However there are scientific articles on it as well. I haven't read them but I did read the abstract of one and it is suggesting higher latitudes at an average rate of 16.9 kms per year. The article was called "Rapid range shifts of species associated with high levels of climate warming". Which is significantly more than some other estimates. There most certainly has been what feels like a very rapidly change in species movement in our lifetime as well as changes in weather patterns. So I would definitely believe a average rate of almost 17kms a year.

"Rapid range shifts of species associated with high levels of climate warming"
http://sciences.blogs.liberation.fr/files/esp%C3%A8ces-migrent-nord-et-haut.pdf

This was an interesting meta-analysis of 770 species and whether they were moving toward the poles (or higher into the atmosphere) to avoid climatic warming. The answer was basically 'yes' with the provision that 1/4 species where moving in the opposite direction than predicted (because nature is complicated and individual species are complicated).

What is the book you are reading? I might try to track down some Ontario/Canada specific articles - if I find any good one I'll post it here.

The book is called "The World in 2050'. It is actually the geography text book but it is a paperback. It is easy reading and seems to be laid out well.

I had some reservations about it but so far it has been good. I am not sure where it is going yet but it is an easy read and I am so far enjoying it. It tackles some broad subjects and brings them together nicely. Subjects like demography, climate change, globalization, etc.