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A Sharp-Eyed Squirrel, Leaping Into the Darkness

The flying squirrel does not actually fly â€Animals Animals/Earth Scenes The flying squirrel does not actually fly â€" it glides.


Few of us ever get a good view of a flying squirrel, but then again, not many of us know they truly exist. Not unlike its cartoon depiction, as the brainy, be-goggled sidekick of Bullwinkle the Moose, the Southern flying squirrel is an impressively well-adapted resident of New York City. With a preference for older beech and oak woods, these squirrels are primarily nocturnal. An uncommon habitat and our very urban instinct to avoid late-night walks through obscure woodlands make finding one a deliberate effort.

The flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) does not actually fly â€" it glides. When a squirrel leaps from its perch in a tall tree, it spreads its limbs, stretching out its two patagia (thick, furred membranes that extend from its wrists to its ankles). In this way, a squirrel less than 10 inches long (including a tail almost half that length) can, in a single bound, cover 150 feet or more, gliding through the treetops effortlessly.

A nighttime jump through a dense canopy of leaves and branches requires keen senses, and the squirrel is suitably equipped. The enormous, soft brown eyes that make them so irresistible to humans are actually a significant part of the squirrels’ survival strategy. A squirrel triangulates with movements of its head before making its longest leaps, suggesting an advanced spatial sense.

The squirrels are also equipped with some of the longest whiskers in the squirrel world. These long vibrissae point forward in flight, assisting in the navigation of the tight spaces among leaves and branches. The whiskers are also useful for negotiating small crevices and nesting cavities, where little or no light ever shines.

The squirrel’s flattened tail is more accurately described as a counterbalance than a rudder, and can break away, like the tails of some lizards and salamanders. An attacking predator may be left holding only a piece of writhing tail, rather than a tasty squirrel meal, if it grabs it at the wrong spot. Unfortunately, unlike lizards and salamanders, a flying squirrel cannot grow its tail back; it simply adapts to its loss.

It is hard to say how many flying squirrels populate New York City’s five boroughs, but surveys by the parks department in conjunction with universities and environmental groups have identified the tiny squirrels in Forest Park and Alley Pond Park in Queens. Inwood Hill Park in Manhattan also has a verified population, as do Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and Blue Heron Park on Staten Island. Squirrels may also glide through Pelham Bay Park’s older woods, and any of several of Staten Island’s older forests.

Flying squirrels eat a wide variety of foods, from acorns and beech nuts to fruit, mushrooms and even eggs or nestling birds. But as a general rule, they are drawn to open water, so finding woodlands near a source of fresh water is often critical to finding a flying squirrel.



Commissioner Bratton on a Threat to Pedestrians

Dear Diary:

During two weeks in January there were three pedestrian fatalities in our Upper West Side neighborhood, around 96th and Broadway. Friends and family have been warning each other, talking solutions and hoping for police action.

On the day following one of the incidents â€" a young medical student was fatally hit on 96th Street â€" I crossed Broadway and spotted Police Commissioner William J. Bratton standing on the sidewalk conferring with what looked like top police brass. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity.

“Congratulations on your appointment, Commissioner,” I said, offering my hand. “Welcome to New York. How about some speed bumps on Broadway?”

“Speed bumps?” he replied. “What we need are trenches.”

I’m glad to see we have someone who is thinking outside the box.

Read all recent entries and our updated submissions guidelines. Reach us via email diary@nytimes.com or follow @NYTMetro on Twitter using the hashtag #MetDiary.



New York Today: Winter Interruptus

Richard Perry/The New York Times

Good Friday morning to you.

Winter is taking a brief winter break.

First comes the fog and the mist, as warm air drags its tendrils over the snow pack.

Later this morning: rain, maybe thunder.

But bear with this crazy weather.

Tomorrow comes a perfect, sunny Saturday, the likes of which we not been seen in, well, a long time.

And as the snow melts, who knows what it might reveal.

Some very old trash, sure.

But also grass.

Crocuses and snowdrops, said the urban ecologist Marielle Anzelone.

Maybe even mushrooms.

Tomorrow morning, the New York Mycological Society will fan out across Central Park.

“If we find any mushrooms at all it will be a success,” said Gary Lincoff, the mushroom master leading the walk.

“People were so antsy about this winter not ever ending that we figured, ‘Let’s just go out,’” he said.

Witch hazel blooms at the New York Botanical Garden.New York Botanical Garden Witch hazel blooms at the New York Botanical Garden.

They’re hoping for oyster mushrooms on a tree trunk. In winter, Mr. Lincoff said, “They’re firmer and they have a better texture and a better flavor.”

The group will meet at 11 a.m. at Central Park West and 106th Street. You are free to join.

Mushrooms or no, the last couple of days have already nudged the season forward:

At the New York Botanical Garden, a witch hazel tree has thrust forth its yellow blossoms. Outdoors.

Today’s high: 50 degrees. Tomorrow’s: 53. Sunday’s not looking too bad either.

Enjoy it. It’s back to the deep freeze by Monday night.

Here’s what else you need to know.

COMMUTE

Subways: Check latest status.

Rails: Check L.I.R.R., Metro-North or N.J. Transit status.

Roads: Look out for ponding. Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.

Alternate-side parking is suspended. Meters are in effect.

Weekend Travel Hassles: Check subway disruptions or list of street closings.

COMING UP TODAY

- Mayor de Blasio and Public Advocate Letitia James talk about a plan to save Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. City Hall, 3:45 p.m.

- The mayor will also announce that the city is removing hundreds of children from homeless shelters because of bad conditions. The children include Dasani, the subject of articles in The Times.

- A room-size depiction of the Grand Canyon is on display in Times Square near Broadway and 42nd to promote a Smithsonian Channel show, “Aerial America.”

- The suitably heroic Italian Futurism show opens at the Guggenheim. “Epic,” says Roberta Smith of The Times. [$22]

- A show of woodcut illustrations in books from 1890 to 1935 opens at the Morgan Library. [$18]

- The Greenwich Village Antiquarian Book Fair opens and runs through Sunday, at P.S. 3 on Hudson Street. 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Longer hours on weekend. [$12 today, $8 Saturday, $4 Sunday]

- Kids Week at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum continues. Today’s theme is “Ports of Call.” [$28 and up]

- For lots more activities for children, see The Times’s Spare Times listings.

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

IN THE NEWS

- Cameras filmed the mayor’s chauffeured car speeding and running stop signs, days after he announced a safe-streets crackdown. The police said security concerns sometimes required such “techniques.” [CBS 2 New York]

- A man framed for murder by a rogue Brooklyn detective 23 years ago will get $6.4 million from the city. [New York Times]

- The leader of a Bronx gang that lured a gay man to an apartment in 2010, and then beat and tortured him for hours, will be sentenced to 14 years in prison. [New York Times]

- Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey got a chilly reception at his first town hall meeting since the bridge scandal broke. [New York Times]

- At 83, Jasper Johns will show new work at the Museum of Modern Art next month. [Gothamist]

- Members-only bathrooms, complete with showers, are coming to Midtown. Price: $24 for three days. [New York Post]

- New zoo baby: a painfully cute tamandua â€" that’s a kind of anteater â€" at the Staten Island Zoo. [Zooborns]

THE WEEKEND

Saturday

- Spot a soaring bald eagle before brunch on a guided bird walk at Inwood Hill Park. 9 a.m. [Free].

- Or hike the Siwanoy trail with an Urban Park Ranger in the Bronx. 11 a.m. [Free, R.S.V.P.]

- The two-day BAMkids Film Festival kicks off with an animated feature about Inuit nomads, “The Legend of Sarila,” and more. [$13 for adults, $9 for kids]

- “Batchery,” a market for artisan packaged food, pops up in Bushwick with customizable cookies and the like. 12 p.m.

- Artists, mainly, reflect on e-cigarettes and “what it means to ‘vape’,” at the New Museum. 3 p.m. [$10]

- Final weekend for the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. Go for Nana, the teddy bear he outfitted with breasts when he was 5. [$12]

Sunday

- Happy Birthday, Mr. First President. A scavenger hunt, book reading, and opportunity to don colonial costume at the Morris-Jumel Mansion in Washington Heights. 11 a.m. [Free]

- Ballet, revealed: A talk for kids, with dancers from the School of American Ballet on hand to plié, at the Queens Theater. 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. [Free, R.S.V.P.]

- Mad as hell men: A screening of “Network” at the Museum of the Moving Image, with a talk by Dave Itzkoff, a Times reporter who wrote a book about the making of the film. 2 p.m. [$15]

- Last day for the “The Armory Show at 100: Modern Art and Revolution.” [$18]

Joseph Burgess contributed reporting.

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