Nearly all of this woodrat’s 45 New Mexico records come from GBIF specimen data. Only 4 trace to iNaturalist, which fits a nocturnal rock-crevice dweller that’s rarely seen alive, let alone photographed. Among the state’s mammals it sits in the “rare” band by record count, though that’s likely as much about detectability as true scarcity.
Rio Arriba County, in New Mexico’s far north, holds 20 of the 45 records, with smaller numbers from San Miguel and Sandoval counties and sites such as Chaco Culture National Historical Park and the Pecos Wilderness. That fits the species’ hold on rocky uplands and canyon country, where it wedges bulky stick-and-bone nests into cliff crevices, the original “packrat” hoarding behavior.
Reports run from May into October and peak in September, but with a record this thin the pattern likely tracks fieldwork timing more than the woodrat’s own activity. NatureServe lists it as S4, Apparently Secure, statewide.
Full species profile
