White-footed mouse records in Montana are unusually thin, just 20 total, and the state sits at the far western edge of a range centered on the eastern half of the continent. Most of this species’ population lives hundreds of miles east; Montana represents a marginal fringe rather than core habitat.
With a sample this small, the monthly pattern, 11 of the 20 records logged in August alone, reads closer to noise than a real seasonal signal. Treating it as a summer activity peak would be reading too much into too little data.
The listed locations, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Flathead Lake, and the Missouri River corridor, are simply the nearest named landmarks to where those scattered records were logged, not evidence of a habitat preference specific to this species in Montana. NatureServe ranks the species S4, Apparently Secure, statewide, a rating that reflects assessment criteria beyond the record count alone.
Full species profile
