Red squirrels are among the more frequently logged mammals in Massachusetts, with nearly 2,700 records and a rank near the top of the state’s mammal list. That volume says less about total numbers than about how loud and easy to notice the species is wherever conifers grow.
A conifer specialist in a mostly hardwood state
Most of Massachusetts is hardwood forest, so red squirrel records concentrate wherever spruce, fir, hemlock, or pine stands break up that pattern, especially the higher, cooler slopes of Mount Greylock and the Berkshires and the scattered conifer stands across the north-central highlands. The species is far less reported from the hardwood-dominated coastal plain and the Boston Basin, where its preferred cone crop is thin on the ground.
A squirrel that stakes out its cone pile
A red squirrel spends the fall gathering conifer cones into a single central cache, called a midden, then defends that pile fiercely through the winter with a rapid, chattering call that’s often the first sign one is nearby. That territorial habit means a single conifer stand can hold a dense cluster of squirrels while the hardwoods just beyond stay empty of them.
A spring surge in the records
Reports jump sharply in April and stay high through early summer, tracking the spring breeding chases that make red squirrels far noisier and more visible than they are during the quieter months of late fall and winter.
Status in Massachusetts
NatureServe ranks the red squirrel S5, secure, and it’s native to the state. Its numbers track the health and extent of the state’s conifer stands more closely than they track the forest as a whole, since hardwood acreage alone doesn’t do much for a squirrel that needs a steady cone crop to get through winter.
Full species profile
