This may sound nuts, but this blog post will be all about squirrels!
Puns aside, I decided to write a blog post about squirrels because they can be a source of confusion and questions for many visitors, including myself when I was new to the Sawtooth NRA last year. So I thought I’d share some facts and ID tips to help you be able to confidently chatter with others about our most common squirrels.
All the squirrels I will be writing about are in the Sciuridae family in the Rodentia order. That is they are small to medium sized rodents. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots, flying squirrels, and prairie dogs, but not pikas – they are related to rabbits in the Lagamorpha order.
Note the darker colored coat of our local Red Squirrels. Photo Credit: SIHA staff
Let’s start with the squirrel that people see, or hear, most often in our pine forests: the Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), the only native tree squirrel in Idaho. While this little squirrel (about 7-8 inches body length) has red colored fur in many of the other locations it is found in, here in the Sawtooths its coat is usually a dark gray brown to charcoal color. Which can be a bit confusing when you learn their name! They can also be confused with Douglas Squirrels (T. douglasii) which are found in the Pacific Northwest, not here, and a quick identifier is the Red Squirrel here has a white belly compared to the more orange or buff colored belly of the Douglas. The most noticeable characteristic of the Red Squirrel though is its voice and attitude! They are very territorial, often chittering, squeaking, flipping their tails, and stomping their feet to try and get you to leave the area. Why so bossy? Food! The Red squirrel’s main food source is pine, fir, and spruce seeds. For the last month we’ve watched them run up the trees, chew off cones, dropping them to the ground where they then run down and gather them, bringing them one by one to a pile called a midden, which they eat from throughout the cold winters – and loudly defend when any animal, or person, comes near! Along with seeds, they also eat berries, flowers, fungus, and insects and while less active in winter, they do still move about visiting their food caches and midden piles.
Columbian Ground Squirrels, tan and orange face highlights, some spots, and sharing a burrow. Photo Credit: SIHA Staff
Next up, the Columbian Ground Squirrel (Urocitellus columbianus). By the time this blog comes out, I’m sorry to say you’ll have to wait until next summer to see one, because they’ve all headed underground for the winter. This prairie dog looking ground squirrel is only active for about 3-4 months of the year here in the Sawtooths (late May to August), and the rest of the year they hibernate! About 11-12 inches in body length, they are the largest of the ground squirrels. They are tawny brown with a reddish orange face and belly, can be spotted on their backs, have short rounded ears, and a small furry tail that lies flat when moving, not upright like a tree squirrel. They live in colonies in burrows in the ground, and you can find them poking their heads out of the holes or sitting up on their hind feet by the entrance all across the sagebrush hills, forest edges, meadows, and likely your lawn too if you’re local! They eat grasses, flowers, bulbs, and seeds, sometimes insects and carrion, usually eating in place, but they may bring food back to their burrows for their young or during bad weather days.
Note the lack of facial stripes running across the eye for the Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel. Photo Credit: SIHA staff
Our third squirrel of note is the Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel (Callospermophilus lateralis)! Much more diverse in habitat than the Columbian Ground Squirrel, you can find this striped squirrel in the lower elevation sagebrush steppe, pine forests, and even at high elevation rocky slopes and meadows. They also have a diverse diet, consuming fungi, seeds, flowers, berries, grasses, insects, small mammals, eggs, and carrion. While they do live in long burrows, similar to the Columbian Ground Squirrel, they do not live in colonies, with usually only females sharing den space with their young until weaned. Their name comes from the reddish gold fur that covers their head and shoulders, and they are often mistaken for chipmunks because both have stripes running along their bodies, both move quickly and live in similar habitats, and both can be too easily habituated to human food, often showing up in campsites. There are two quick ways to tell them apart. The first is size: Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels are around 6-8 inches long in body length, chipmunks are around 3-4 inches in body length. Imagine if you were to put it in your shirt pocket, an adult chipmunk would fit, an adult Golden-mantled would not. Though I do not suggest you try putting a wild animal in your shirt pocket! The other quick ID tip is to look at the strips on the face, particularly by the eyes. The Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel has an eye ring, but no stripes running across its face. The chipmunk has stripes that run from nose to ears, cutting across the eye. Like the other ground squirrels of the US, they are hibernators, though they come out of hibernation a bit earlier and stay out longer than the Columbian, usually being present from early May through September or October.
Notice the distinct stripes running across the face and eye of this Least Chipmunk. Photo Credit: SIHA staff
Finally, the littlest Sciuridae members here – the chipmunks! There are two chipmunk species present in the SNRA. The Yellow-pine Chipmunk (Neotamias amoenus) and the more commonly seen Least Chipmunk (Neotamias minimus). Both chipmunks are small, around 3-5 inches in body length, with stripes and facial stripes – the classic chipmunk feature. Both eat a diet of seeds, berries, fungi, and insects, and both carry their food in their cheeks to cache (storage) locations. Both will dig burrows, but also use logs, rocks, and stumps for shelter, and go into torpor during the winter. Torpor is a type of winter rest where the animal has slowed activity and energy, but unlike true hibernation, they do wake up at times to eat stored food. Both chipmunks are present in the Sawtooths, with the Least being fairly widespread from sagebrush steppe to higher elevation forests, and the Yellow-pine being found more often above 6,000 ft to 9,000 ft in pine and mixed conifer forests. Again, Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels are commonly mis-identified as chipmunks.
I hope that this blog has spurred your interest in these little rodent order members. You may have to wait until next summer to see some of them, but now you’re prepared with all the information you need to wow your friends when you tell them the difference between each one! Isn’t that nuts you could learn so much in so little time?
Alicia Lindbom is the Summer Programs Coordinator for SIHA. When she’s not managing staff and logistics, you can find her hiking with her husband or making art.