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Habitats of Fox Squirrels

Fox squirrels are the largest of North America's native tree squirrels. Coming in a diverse suite of color forms, from all-black to mottled gray-orange, these big squirrels are native to much of the central and eastern U.S., with introduced populations established in the West Coast and Northwest. Feeding mainly on tree nuts, they are tied to stands of timber -- but the nature of that timber can vary widely, encompassing everything from rich hardwood forests in an Appalachian cove to subtropical palm savannas and urban parkways.

Deciduous Forests
- Across their broad range, fox squirrels are common in a variety of deciduous-forest communities. They tend to prefer stands of mast-producing trees like oaks, walnuts and hickories with relatively sparse understories. Ecologically, this translates to any number of specific ecosystems, from sugar maple-basswood groves of the upper Midwest to the diverse mixed-hardwood communities of the southern Appalachians.
Pinewoods and Swamps
- Fox squirrels also thrive in certain pine-dominated ecosystems, feeding as readily on pine nuts as the fruits of hardwoods. A number of subspecies, including the Delmarva and piney woods varieties, favor the open pine woodlands and savannas, often scattered with oaks, which are so extensive on the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains. The big cypress fox squirrel of South Florida utilizes some of the most varied habitats of any subspecies: Along with pine rock lands dominated by slash pine that are similar to other coastal plain pine savannas, they will roam cypress swamps, tropical hardwood hammocks, palm groves and even mangrove swamps.
Habitat Frontiers
- On the western margin of the fox squirrel's natural range, the animals are expanding within the Great Plains via isolated corridors of timber. These include the great gallery forests of eastern cottonwood and other hardwoods that shoulder rivers and large streams in this region. Planted hedgerows of species like Osage-orange are also important habitat stringers for fox squirrels on the Great Plains, as noted by the American Society of Mammalogists.
Urban Areas
- Fox squirrels also utilize urban and suburban habitats. These include metropolitan areas of the Northwest where they have been introduced, such as Washington and Oregon, and where they may out-compete the native western gray squirrel. In such habitats they tend to frequent parks, cemeteries and other greenways where large, nut-bearing trees are readily available. Both in the East and in some areas of the West, they compete here with the smaller but highly opportunistic eastern gray squirrel.

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