Every one of New Mexico’s 134 least chipmunk records comes from GBIF specimen and survey data; not one iNaturalist photograph backs the state total. That’s an unusual gap for a small, day-active squirrel, and it points to a reporting blind spot rather than genuine scarcity.
San Pedro Parks Wilderness, Sandia Mountain Wilderness, and Wheeler Peak Wilderness anchor the named locations, all high, forested mountain country in the northern half of the state, exactly where a least chipmunk would find rocky, brushy cover.
Records climb through summer and peak in August, but New Mexico sits only mid-table among the states in its range. Colorado alone logs more than ten times as many least chipmunk records, so the species turns up here at the edge of its range rather than its stronghold.
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