Vermont’s southern flying squirrel records concentrate in the Champlain Valley, where the oak and hickory stands of the clayplain forest give it both the mature cavity trees it nests in and the hard mast it feeds on. That’s a different forest type than the spruce-fir covering much of the Green Mountains, and it’s a good part of why records lean toward the lake side of the state.
This is a nocturnal glider, not a true flier: it launches from a trunk and steers a fold of skin stretched between its front and back legs to cross gaps between trees. It nests in old woodpecker holes and other cavities, often crowding several squirrels into one den through winter to share body heat, and it feeds on nuts, seeds, fungi, insects, and the occasional bird egg.
Records show up in most months here, with the most in late fall as squirrels shift between den trees ahead of winter. Because this species is active only after dark and easy to miss without a spotlight or a cavity check, Vermont’s modest record count reflects how hard it is to detect more than how scarce it actually is.
