At 9468 records, the eastern gray squirrel is among the most documented mammals in Maryland, and its map is practically a map of the state itself, all 23 counties, with Montgomery County’s 3828 records far out in front and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park the single busiest site.
A hardwood animal that took to the suburbs
Gray squirrels run on tree seed, acorns, hickory nuts, walnuts, and beech, and Maryland’s oak and hickory woods are their native ground. They shelter in leaf nests called dreys or, better, in tree cavities, and they have adapted seamlessly to parks, campuses, and neighborhoods, which is why records concentrate where people and mature trees mix.
An April peak and an autumn scramble
Sightings top out in April, when squirrels are tearing at buds, tending dreys, and chasing through bare canopies before leaf-out hides them, then settle through the summer. The numbers climb again from September through November, the scatter-hoarding season, when each squirrel buries nuts singly by the hundreds across its home range and relies on smell and memory to recover enough of them to last the winter.
Status in Maryland
NatureServe ranks the eastern gray squirrel S5, Secure, in Maryland, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
Full species profile
