Some days you get lucky

Long leaf pine cones provide the majority of the fox squirrel diet

PINEHURST, NC - -  The chubby, dark colored fellow with the long, fluffy tail is a fox squirrel.  We've been visiting NC yearly since we retired (16 years) and before also.  We had heard of the fox squirrel, a sort of mythical creature and very (camera) shy.  Something like the Kaibab and Abert species we encountered out West...just never close enough to get a good photo.

     Our buddy here showed up outside near where we're staying and literally posed for photos. ..not once or twice, but three separate times. The Sandhills Region of NC is the home of these nearly 2lb rodents/tree squirrels which makes them about twice the size of the ever-present grey variety.  They used to range farther along the southern coastal plain, but timber loss (long leaf and southeastern pines) curtailed food supplies squeezing them into a smaller location.