Maine is the northeastern end of the New England cottontail’s range, and the record behaves like it. The 37 reports since 2000 concentrate in the state’s southwestern corner, York County with 11 and Cumberland with 5, with only scattered records reaching Oxford and Androscoggin counties. Another 18 records carry no county at all. Nothing in the file places the rabbit in the vast forested north, which matches what habitat would predict: this is a thicket animal, and it wants the dense, regenerating growth found in southern Maine’s farm edges, powerline cuts, and coastal scrub.
Reports peak from May through July, when the rabbits are breeding and most visible, with a smaller rise in September. The same caution applies here as everywhere in New England: the native cottontail is nearly indistinguishable from the introduced eastern cottontail at a glance, so confirmed records carry far more weight than casual sightings. NatureServe ranks the species imperiled in Maine. A record from May 2026 shows it’s still holding on in the state’s southern thickets.
Full species profile
