Bushy-tailed woodrats show one of the starkest source imbalances in this South Dakota dataset: 110 GBIF records against just 3 from iNaturalist, meaning trapping and specimen surveys, not casual sightings, document essentially everything known about this rock-crevice specialist in the state. NatureServe rates the population S5, secure, fitting a species tied to the Black Hills’ granite outcrops and canyon walls.
June and July together account for 19 of the year’s 20 monthly-tallied records, essentially the entire year’s total, a pattern that plausibly reflects a concentrated summer trapping survey rather than any real seasonal explosion in woodrat activity, since this species is active year-round rather than migratory.
Full species profile
