With 9,290 records, the eastern gray squirrel is the second most recorded mammal in Ohio’s atlas, behind only the white-tailed deer. Franklin, Summit, and Hamilton counties lead a map that covers the whole state.
A squirrel of the hardwood canopy
Gray squirrels belong to mature broadleaf forest, the oaks, hickories, beeches, and walnuts whose nuts carry them through the year. Ohio’s record reflects that tie: old-growth remnants like Goll Woods and Johnson Woods Dedicated Nature Preserves appear alongside Hocking Hills State Park, Wayne National Forest, and the big wooded corridor of Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The squirrel does just as well in town, where mature shade trees over parks and yards offer the same mast and nesting cavities as a forest stand, which is why the state’s most urban counties sit atop the list.
Two peaks in the year
Reports crest in April, ease through the summer, then surge again in September and October. The fall wave is the mast season made visible: gray squirrels scatter-hoard, burying nuts one by one to dig up months later, and that work keeps them on the ground and in view for weeks. They do not hibernate. Through winter they shelter in tree cavities or bulky leaf nests called dreys and venture out on all but the bitterest days.
Status in Ohio
The eastern gray squirrel is native to Ohio and not listed as nonindigenous by USGS NAS. NatureServe leaves it unranked (SNR) in the state, while globally it is ranked G5, Secure, and listed by the IUCN as Least Concern.
Full species profile
