I noticed this squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) with an unusual black color at Catherine Chevalier Woods, which is a Cook County, Illinois forest preserve. Most squirrels here are the normal gray color.
Link to previous post on black squirrels in Auburn:
Link to black squirrels:
Link to black squirrels in Chicago:
Link to Catherine Chevalier Woods:
A couple white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the same park. This park has a large population of deer, sometimes you can see as many as a couple dozen in the park. The heavy deer population contributes to the overgrazing of the woods, the understory is dominated by Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) and buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) The wildlife here is quite used to human beings, one can be walking on the trail here and the deer will just walk by, apparently not bothered by the presence of people. It's almost like a petting zoo here with the animals. I've seen a skunk, an opossum, and a pack of raccoons wandering through the woods and parking lots here before. The woods is close to O'hare airport and has constant noise of aircraft flying low overhead as they approach the airport for a landing.
Photos taken March 11, 2017.
