Massachusetts sits near the southern edge of the northern flying squirrel’s range, and no Massachusetts records fall between 2000 and 2026. Records map where observers and trappers have worked, though, so an empty tally shouldn’t be read as proof the squirrel is absent.
It’s an easy animal to miss. It doesn’t hibernate and keeps gliding between trees on the coldest January nights, but it does nearly all of that in the dark, high in the canopy.
NatureServe ranks the squirrel S2, imperiled in Massachusetts, even though the species is secure across its full range. That gap between global comfort and local scarcity is the real story here. Mature conifer and hemlock-hardwood stands are what hold it in the state, and the squirrel depends on that older forest wherever it still stands.
Full species profile
