Tamiasciurus hudsonicus
The Red Squirrel is designated Secure throughout its range.
Red Squirrels are found in conifer-dominant forests across North America, except the Pacific coast.
Walking through an otherwise quiet forest, the resounding chatter of a Red Squirrel may insistently inform you that you are “invading” its territory.
Red Squirrels are one of the smallest tree squirrels in North America, weighing between 200-250 grams. As its name suggests, this squirrel has reddish fur with a white underbelly and whitish rings around its eyes.
Unlike the majority of mammals, Red Squirrels are diurnal, with peaks of activity in the early morning and late afternoon. These animals nest in tree branches or tree cavities; each individual has several nests, and females often move their offspring between nests. Survivorship of juveniles is low, with approximately 22% of squirrels surviving their first year. Red Squirrel predators include several species of raptors, gray foxes, bobcats, coyotes, and weasels.
Fun Facts
- Red Squirrels create caches of food, known as “middens,” in late summer and early fall. Middens consist of large piles of shredded cones and stems under trees, with green cones in the middle.
- Its frequent noisy chatter is the basis for one of its common monikers, the “Chickaree.”
- While Red Squirrel diets consist mostly of conifer seeds, they are opportunistic feeders, also incorporating mushrooms, berries, and bird eggs and nestlings into their diet. Squirrels may clip mushrooms and place them on tree branches for drying.
- Red Squirrels enjoy maple syrup by “tapping” maple trees by biting into the bark to release sap, returning later to consume the concentrated “syrup” once some of the water has evaporated.
- They are active year-round, and in winter they often travel in tunnels under the snow
Why We Study Them
The Red Squirrel is abundant and of little conservation concern throughout most of its range. However, since the conifers on which they feed produce seeds in approximately 3-5 year cycles, squirrel populations fluctuate in response to these seed and cone production cycles. When their target food sources produce a large “cone mast,” squirrel populations increase. Since squirrels are also important avian nest predators, when squirrel abundance is high, nestling survivorship may be low for several songbirds within the squirrel’s range. In montane forests of the Northeast, prey items include eggs and nestlings of the Bicknell’s Thrush, a species of high conservation concern.
Volunteers with VCE’s Mountain Birdwatch and Forest Bird Monitoring projects survey Red Squirrel populations across the northeastern United States to further document and understand their connection with bird populations.
Our Research on Red Squirrels
Boom and bust: the effects of masting on seed predator range dynamics and trophic cascades
Hallworth, M.T., Sirén, A.P.K., DeLuca, W.V., Duclos, T.R., McFarland, K.P., Hill, J.M., Rimmer, C.C. and Morelli, T.L. (2024) Diversity and Distributions, 30(8), e13861. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13861.
Results: Tree masting events lead to more red squirrels in the forest and that they move up and down slope from their ‘strong-hold’ habitat which is the ecotone between montane spruce-fir and northern hardwood forest. The resulting increases in both abudance and distribtuion negatively impact daily nest survival for songbirds nesting across an elevation gradient, from Ovenbirds, to Bicknell’s Thrush.
Does habitat or climate change drive species range shifts?
Morelli, T.L., Hallworth, M.T., Duclos, T., Ells, A., Faccio, S.D., Foster, J.R., McFarland, K.P., Nislow, K., Ralston, J., Ratnaswamy, M., DeLuca, W.V. and Siren, A.P.K. (2025) Ecography, 2025, e07560. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.07560.
Results: Habitat, not climate is primarliy responsible for the distribution changes in red-squirrels that we’ve observed over the past 20ish years.
Get Involved
If learning more about the Red Squirrel has left you wondering how you can contribute to our research on montane forests, please consider becoming a community scientist, making a gift, or keeping up with the latest VCE news! We also encourage you to report any sightings to iNaturalist Vermont, which helps us better understand this species throughout its range.
