Indiana’s open-data record set holds 139 reports of the southern flying squirrel, split close to evenly between iNaturalist observations and GBIF data. That’s a modest tally for an animal that does nearly all its business after dark and on the wing.
A glider that needs old, hollow trees
Southern flying squirrels rely on tree cavities, usually ones a woodpecker drilled and abandoned, both to nest in and to launch their glides between trees. That points straight at Indiana’s older hardwood stands, like the mature oak and hickory forest across Hoosier National Forest in the south and the oak woodland ringing Indiana Dunes National Park in the north. A young, even-aged woodlot without cavity trees gives this squirrel far less to work with.
A fall spike in reports
Reports of this squirrel in Indiana jump sharply in October, more than double the average month. Flying squirrels den together through cold weather, several animals packed into one cavity for warmth, and fall is also when nest-box checks and nighttime call surveys tend to run. Indiana’s record set can’t say which of those is driving the October jump, only that it happens every year the data cover.
Status in Indiana
NatureServe ranks the southern flying squirrel S4, apparently secure, and it’s native to Indiana. It stays out of sight in the state’s mature forest canopy far more than these 139 reports would suggest.
