Of Maine’s 1,402 eastern gray squirrel records, the great majority sit in the southern half of the state. Cumberland County alone holds 403, with Penobscot and Kennebec well behind, and the map thins steadily northward as spruce and fir replace the oak, hickory, and beech this squirrel is built around.
An animal of the hardwood belt
Gray squirrels live by the nut crop, burying thousands of acorns each fall and finding them again by smell under the snow. That diet ties them to mature deciduous woods, village shade trees, and old farms, which is why Maine’s records cluster in the coastal and southern counties, at places like Mackworth Island, Two Lights State Park, and Bay Bridge Landing Wetland Park, with Acadia National Park anchoring the counts farther east. In the big conifer woods of the interior, the smaller red squirrel is the resident tree squirrel, and the gray squirrel largely gives way.
Busy in every season
Gray squirrels do not hibernate, and Maine’s calendar shows it, with reports spread across all twelve months. Autumn is the conspicuous season, as squirrels cut and cache nuts in the open, but they stay active on mild winter days and shift to buds, bark, and stored food until spring.
Status in Maine
NatureServe ranks the eastern gray squirrel S5, Secure, in Maine, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
Full species profile
