Grey squirrels on the move

[sgtwal]

When I was a youngster back in the 1950s there were almost no Grey Squirrels around here. I live in west central indiana near Terre Haute. We had lots of Fox Squirrels and some that were called Red Squirrels though I couldn't see a difference myself.
Then just a few years ago we started seeing Greys everywhere and now it is getting hard to see anything else.
We even have quite a few Greys with white tails and some with piebald coloring.
As a young man I read some old settlers accounts of squirrel migrations taking place. They described "herds" of squirrels numbering in the hundreds moving through the trees. All heading in the same direction and traveling till they were out of sight and sound of the watchers.
What did it take to bring out all these Grey Squirrels? And why now and not 50 years ago?

[drs]

Fox Squirrels tend to stay in areas where there is a lot of agriculture operations going on like growing field corn.  The prefer smaller wood lots too, and tend to be more Urban than Grays.  Gray Squirrels migrate more and when their food supply dries-up they move on.  On my property Grays usually finish-off all the mast from one tree and then proceed to the next tree with lots of mast.

[omegahunter]

Same way for Daviess County. I hardly ever saw any grays except in "big" woods, but I even had one on my corn cob feeder not long ago in Washington city limits. Be glad that the grays are taking over as they are more likely to be more tender eating. At least that has been my experience.

[moe1360]

sgtwal,,,where near terre haute r u?