Big Cypress National Preserve dominates Florida’s fox squirrel record with 70 named sightings, more than four times every other site combined, reflecting the open pine flatwoods and cypress-edge habitat this larger, more open-country cousin of the eastern gray squirrel favors over dense hardwood canopy. Apalachicola and Ocala national forests form a second, more northern thread, with Myakka River adding a small Gulf-side cluster.
Records build from March through May and peak in the latter month, more than four times the July low, tracking spring breeding activity. Florida’s fox squirrels include the “Big Cypress fox squirrel,” a distinctive dark-colored population once considered for federal listing, and NatureServe hasn’t yet assigned the broader species a numeric state rank (SNR).
