Indiana’s open-data record set holds 395 reports of the white-footed mouse, a mix of iNaturalist sightings and a larger body of GBIF specimen data. That count shows where surveys and traps have turned the mouse up. 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 are lowest in midwinter and climb into a run of high months from May through September, peaking in July. 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
