Maine’s 176 gray fox records lean toward the warmer, more settled south. Cumberland and York counties hold the largest shares, with Oxford close behind, and the named places, Fort Baldwin, Popham Beach, and the Androscoggin River Scenic Area, all sit in the coastal lowlands rather than the big northern woods.
The fox that climbs
The gray fox is the only North American canid that routinely climbs trees, hooking its curved claws into bark to scramble up leaning trunks after food or away from danger. It favors a patchwork of brushy woods, old fields, and dense tangles rather than open country, hunting rabbits, mice, and voles at night and eating fruit and insects through the warmer months. Southern Maine’s mix of second-growth forest, stone walls, and farm edges suits it well, while thick cover keeps it far less visible than the red fox.
A summer pulse in the counts
Reports crest in June and July, when adults are making constant hunting trips back to a den of growing pups and family groups start traveling together at dusk. The species stays active through winter, but its nocturnal habits and preference for tangles mean tracks and brief glimpses account for much of what is seen.
Status in Maine
NatureServe ranks the gray fox S5, Secure, in Maine, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
Full species profile
