With 2,326 records, the fox squirrel is the single most recorded mammal in Idaho’s atlas, a striking total for a species that is not native to the state. More than half come from Ada County alone, with Canyon, Bannock, and Latah next, a map of towns rather than wild country.
An eastern squirrel in western towns
The fox squirrel is a tree squirrel of eastern North America’s hardwood forests, larger and more rufous than any squirrel native to Idaho. It has established itself in the irrigated, tree-lined parts of the Snake River Plain: city parks, older neighborhoods, farmsteads, and mature shade trees around places like Eagle Island State Park and Three Island Crossing State Park. NatureServe flags it as exotic in Idaho.
Busy in every month
Fox squirrels do not hibernate. They bury nuts and seeds through fall and work back through those caches all winter, and Idaho’s record stays heavy in every month, with an April crest when the squirrels are conspicuous in canopies not yet fully leafed out.
Status in Idaho
NatureServe assigns the fox squirrel an SNA rank in Idaho, Not Applicable, because the species is non-native here. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous in the state, but its foothold in Idaho’s towns is plainly well established.
