Records for the American red squirrel run dense across Wisconsin, especially around Kettle Moraine State Forest’s mixed hardwood-and-conifer stands and the woodlots and plantings near Horicon National Wildlife Refuge. The heaviest reporting still favors the state’s Northwoods, where boreal and mixed conifer forest gives this cone-dependent squirrel the pine, spruce, and fir stands it needs.
Red squirrels build their lives around conifer cones. Each squirrel defends a territory centered on a midden, a growing pile of stripped cone scales built up over years of caching seeds for winter, and it chatters loudly at anything that trespasses too close. Unlike many rodents, red squirrels stay active during the day through every season and never truly hibernate, living off that cached hoard to get through Wisconsin’s winters.
With over 2,200 records, this is among the most frequently recorded mammals in Wisconsin’s dataset, recorded in every month with an April peak as squirrels grow more active and vocal ahead of the spring breeding season.
Full species profile
