Indiana has 67 white-footed mouse records from 2000 on, all but one of them research-grade iNaturalist observations. That count shows where people have found and photographed the mouse. It says nothing about how many are actually out there.
A forest edge that spans both halves of the state
White-footed mice favor brushy forest edges, woodlots, and hedgerows over open fields, a habitat type that shows up in very different corners of Indiana. In the north, that’s the oak woodland and dune scrub bordering Indiana Dunes National Park along Lake Michigan. In the south, it’s the oak-hickory ridges of Brown County State Park and the hollow-and-hillside forest of Hoosier National Forest, both part of Indiana’s unglaciated hill country, where fallen logs and rock crevices give this mouse plenty of places to nest.
Busiest in summer, active all winter
Records run highest from May through September and peak in September, with an odd dip in July, and they stay thin through midwinter. That tracks the season when insects and ripening seeds give this mouse the most to eat. It doesn’t hibernate, though. Through cold Indiana winters it stays active, sheltering in a stump, brush pile, or abandoned squirrel nest rather than shutting down.
Status in Indiana
NatureServe ranks the white-footed mouse S5, secure, and it’s native across Indiana. It turns up in almost any patch of brushy woodland edge in the state, from the dune country near Lake Michigan to the hardwood hills above the Ohio River.
Full species profile
