Friday, March 2, 2018

Pictures of Fairy Diddles

Wherever you find them these guys are pretty funny, whether they are flying through the air from one tree to another or whether they are standing upside down on the side of a huge cedar tree and scolding you for being too near there territory they are wonderful in a very special way. I suppose if their territory is outside your bedroom window this could be a problem but I'm thinking most fairty diddles would eventually move when you moved into your mountain house or cabin eventually (unless you are only there for the weekend).

You can recognize them both from their loud noises threatening intruders to leave their territory from 10 to 20 feet up the side of a tree or you can see the red (usually) tufts of hair coming out of their ears or reddish colored tails somewhat or just kind of happy silly behavior to a human being. They tend to like being remote deep into a forest as far away from humans as possible if they can.

begin quote from:

e-WV | Fairy Diddle - WV Encyclopedia

https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/2235

Jul 20, 2012 - In West Virginia the term fairy diddle refers to a near-mythic creature, and may be used for various woodland rodents, including tree squirrels, flying squirrels, ground squirrels, and even baby groundhogs. Most observers agree, however, that whatever the fairy diddle is, it is fast, smaller than the average ...

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Wild Moments: Have You Ever Seen A Fairy Diddle? - YouTube

▶ 2:15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCvCqDL8Kvk

Nov 15, 2010 - Uploaded by wgaltv

Launching from high in the treetops, flying squirrels can glide up to a hundred yards.

Fairy Diddle & Gray Squirrel - YouTube

▶ 1:51

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq89o8Piceo

Jun 20, 2014 - Uploaded by 4himrn

Wild Moments: Have You Ever Seen A Fairy Diddle? ... Eastern Gray Squirrel (Video for dogs and cats to ...

Fairy diddles are nocturnal, but common | Outdoors | wvnews.com

https://www.wvnews.com/.../fairy-diddles.../article_f1c14089-9fc9-548e-a4a5-bd54ef...

Mar 29, 2015 - Recently the temperature reached 60 degrees, so I headed outside and checked some of my nest boxes. I really didn't expect to find any active nests just yet, but thought.

Notes from WoodlandHabitat.com: Are Fairy Diddles in your backyard?

notesfromwoodlandhabitat.blogspot.com/.../are-fairy-diddles-in-your-backyard.html

Mar 30, 2008 - Janet Scanlon of Ft. Wright was checking her nest boxes recently when she noticed a wren house had chew marks around the entry hole. Wren houses, with a 1 1/8^th-inch entry, are too small for most other species to inhabit; but one mammal will chew around the entry hole to make it larger…the fairy diddle ...

Share Fairy Diddle

In West Virginia the term fairy diddle refers to a near-mythic creature, and may be used for various woodland rodents, including tree squirrels, flying squirrels, ground squirrels, and even baby groundhogs. Most observers agree, however, that whatever the fairy diddle is, it is fast, smaller than the average tree squirrel, and makes a lot of noise if disturbed. This accurately describes the American red squirrel, also called the pine squirrel or chickaree. Thus in West Virginia fairy diddles are most often red squirrels. Half the size of the gray squirrel, the red squirrel is omnivorous and will attack and eat other small mammals. This behavior may have given rise to the myth, common in West Virginia, that fairy diddles raid the nests of other squirrels and castrate their young, creating so-called steer squirrels. Other West Virginians identify the fairy diddle itself as such a steer squirrel. Naturalists disallow both of these assertions.
Fairy diddle as a term is most often used in northern West Virginia. It may be spelled alternately fairydiddle, ferrydiddle, and ferrididdle. In the southern region, ‘‘mountain boomer’’ is used synonymously. Because of its association with rapid movement the term is often used descriptively, as in ‘‘quick as a fairy diddle.’’

Last Revised on July 20, 2012

Folklore

Cite This Article

e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia "Fairy Diddle." e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 20 July 2012. Web. 02 March 2018.

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