You’re hiking through Red Rock Canyon when a blur of russet fur darts across the trail. Was that a ground squirrel or a chipmunk? Nevada’s diverse landscapes—from the Mojave Desert’s scorching valleys to the Sierra Nevada’s alpine meadows—host an impressive variety of squirrel species that many residents never learn to distinguish.
Whether you’re a wildlife enthusiast, photographer, or simply curious about the bushy-tailed neighbors in your backyard, knowing how to identify Nevada’s 12 squirrel species transforms every outdoor adventure into an opportunity for discovery.
1. Rock Squirrel
The rock squirrel (Otospermophilus variegatus) ranks as Nevada’s largest ground squirrel, measuring 17-21 inches from nose to tail tip. You’ll immediately notice their mottled gray-brown coat that provides perfect camouflage against Nevada’s rocky terrain, though some individuals display darker coloration along their backs.
These bold squirrels thrive in rocky habitats throughout southern and central Nevada, particularly around Boulder City, Valley of Fire, and the lower elevations of Mount Charleston.
Unlike their more timid cousins, rock squirrels often approach picnic areas and developed recreational sites, standing upright on their hind legs to survey their surroundings with characteristic confidence.
Pro Tip: Rock squirrels are most active during early morning and late afternoon hours. Listen for their sharp, chirping alarm calls when you’re near rocky outcrops—they’re usually warning other squirrels about your presence.
You’ll find them excavating extensive burrow systems beneath boulders and cliff bases, creating networks that can extend 15-20 feet underground.
Their diet shifts seasonally, focusing on seeds and nuts in fall while incorporating more green vegetation and insects during spring and summer months. Rock squirrels don’t hibernate like many ground squirrels, though they become less active during Nevada’s coldest winter weeks.
Common Mistake: Many people confuse rock squirrels with California ground squirrels in overlapping territories. Rock squirrels have more mottled coloring and lack the distinctive white shoulder markings of California ground squirrels.
2. California Ground Squirrel
California ground squirrels (Otospermophilus beecheyi) bring distinctive markings to western Nevada’s valleys and foothills. These medium-to-large squirrels measure 14-20 inches in total length and sport characteristic white-to-silver flecking on their brown backs, creating a salt-and-pepper appearance that sets them apart from other Nevada species.
Your best identification marker lies in the whitish-gray shoulder patches and collar that form a distinctive “shawl” pattern. These markings remain visible even from a distance, making California ground squirrels one of Nevada’s easiest species to identify correctly.
They populate the western edge of Nevada, particularly in areas around Reno, Carson City, and Lake Tahoe, where they’ve adapted remarkably well to suburban environments.
These social squirrels establish complex colony structures with interconnected burrows that can house multiple families. Watch for their sentinel behavior—at least one squirrel typically stands guard while others forage, ready to sound the alarm with a series of sharp whistles when predators approach.
California ground squirrels consume primarily plant material, including seeds, grains, fruits, and green vegetation, though they occasionally supplement their diet with insects and bird eggs.
Key Insight: California ground squirrels experience a period of reduced activity during Nevada’s hottest months (July-August), though this varies by elevation and isn’t true hibernation. They emerge more frequently during cooler early morning and evening hours.
3. Belding’s Ground Squirrel
Belding’s ground squirrel (Urocitellus beldingi) inhabits Nevada’s high-elevation meadows and grasslands, thriving in mountain environments above 6,000 feet.
These compact squirrels measure 9-12 inches total length and display a distinctive reddish-brown stripe running down their backs, bordered by grayish sides that create a three-toned appearance.
You’ll spot these squirrels primarily in northeastern Nevada’s mountain ranges, including the Ruby Mountains and East Humboldt Range, where they occupy alpine and subalpine meadows.
Unlike many Nevada squirrels that remain active year-round, Belding’s ground squirrels are true hibernators, retreating underground from September through March and emerging only when snowmelt reveals fresh vegetation.
Their colonial lifestyle creates extensive burrow systems beneath mountain meadows, with multiple entrance holes connected to underground chambers used for nesting and food storage.
Belding’s ground squirrels maintain a vegetarian diet focused on grasses, forbs, seeds, and flowering plants abundant in their high-elevation habitat. Watch for their characteristic upright posture—they frequently stand on their hind legs to scan for predators like golden eagles, coyotes, and badgers.
Important Note: Belding’s ground squirrels face habitat pressure from livestock grazing and climate change affecting mountain meadow ecosystems. They serve as critical prey species for many mountain predators, making their population health an indicator of ecosystem balance.
The breeding season occurs immediately after emergence from hibernation, with females producing a single litter of 4-8 young annually. Juvenile squirrels must accumulate sufficient fat reserves during their first summer to survive their first winter hibernation—a challenging requirement that results in high first-year mortality rates.
4. Piute Ground Squirrel
Piute ground squirrels (Urocitellus mollis) represent one of Nevada’s most widespread yet least recognized species. These small, slender squirrels measure just 8-10 inches in total length and display pinkish-buff to grayish-brown coloring that blends seamlessly with Nevada’s desert soils and sagebrush flats.
You’ll encounter Piute ground squirrels throughout northern and central Nevada’s sagebrush ecosystems, particularly in areas with sandy or gravelly soils that facilitate easy burrow construction.
Their range extends from valley floors to mid-elevation slopes, typically between 4,000-8,000 feet. These squirrels prefer open terrain with good visibility, allowing them to spot approaching predators while foraging far from burrow entrances.
Unlike Nevada’s colonial ground squirrel species, Piute ground squirrels maintain more solitary lifestyles, though multiple individuals may inhabit the same general area when resources are abundant.
They hibernate deeply from late summer through early spring—often entering dormancy as early as July and not emerging until March or April. This extended hibernation period represents an adaptation to Nevada’s harsh desert summers and cold winters.
Their diet consists primarily of green vegetation in spring, shifting to seeds and dried plant material as summer progresses. Piute ground squirrels must consume enough calories during their brief active season (approximately 4-5 months) to sustain them through 7-8 months of hibernation—a remarkable metabolic feat.
Pro Tip: Look for small, inconspicuous burrow openings in sandy areas beneath sagebrush. Piute ground squirrels keep their entrances deliberately low-profile to avoid attracting predators, unlike the more obvious mounds created by some ground squirrel species.
5. Townsend’s Ground Squirrel
Townsend’s ground squirrels (Urocitellus townsendii) inhabit Nevada’s northwestern valleys and basins, favoring the sagebrush-grassland ecosystems found throughout the Great Basin region.
These petite squirrels measure 8-10 inches in length and display smoky-gray to pinkish-gray coloring with a distinctive short, stubby tail that appears almost vestigial compared to other squirrel species.
You’ll find Townsend’s ground squirrels in northwestern Nevada, particularly around Winnemucca, Battle Mountain, and Elko, where they populate open terrain with sandy or loamy soils.
Their cryptic coloration provides excellent camouflage against desert substrates, making them challenging to spot despite sometimes occurring in relatively high densities.
These squirrels demonstrate one of the shortest active seasons among Nevada’s ground squirrels, typically emerging in January or February and retreating to hibernation by May or June.
This brief activity window coincides with the growth of spring vegetation and seed production, allowing them to maximize caloric intake during resource-abundant months while avoiding the extreme heat and resource scarcity of Nevada’s summer and fall.
Townsend’s ground squirrels maintain primarily solitary habits, with males establishing small territories that may overlap with several female home ranges.
Their diet emphasizes fresh green vegetation in early spring, transitioning to seeds and bulbs as the season progresses. Watch for their feeding behavior—they often sit upright while manipulating food items in their forepaws, creating an almost prairie-dog-like appearance.
Key Insight: Climate change affects Townsend’s ground squirrels’ emergence timing. Warmer winters can trigger early emergence, potentially exposing populations to late-season snowstorms and food shortages.
6. Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel
Golden-mantled ground squirrels (Callospermophilus lateralis) bring striking beauty to Nevada’s mountain forests and alpine zones.
These charismatic squirrels measure 9-12 inches in total length and display brilliant copper-gold coloring on their heads and shoulders, contrasted by distinctive white stripes bordered by black stripes running along their sides.
You’ll encounter these photogenic squirrels throughout Nevada’s higher mountain ranges, including the Sierra Nevada, Spring Mountains, and various ranges in northern Nevada, typically at elevations above 6,000 feet.
They thrive in coniferous forests, rocky slopes, and alpine meadow edges where fallen logs and boulder piles provide abundant cover and denning sites.
Common Mistake: People frequently misidentify golden-mantled ground squirrels as oversized chipmunks due to their similar striping pattern. The key difference? Golden-mantled ground squirrels lack stripes on their faces, while chipmunks always display facial stripes. Additionally, golden-mantled ground squirrels are noticeably larger and more robust.
These squirrels exhibit semi-social behavior, tolerating neighbors while maintaining individual territories. They hibernate from October through April, though exact timing varies with elevation and snow conditions.
Their diet includes seeds, nuts, fungi, insects, and green vegetation, with a particular fondness for pine seeds and acorns. Watch for their cheek-pouching behavior—they stuff their expandable cheek pouches with impressive quantities of seeds for transport to storage chambers.
Golden-mantled ground squirrels show little fear of humans in developed mountain recreation areas, regularly approaching picnic sites and campgrounds. While their boldness makes them easy to observe and photograph, feeding them disrupts natural behaviors and can lead to nutritional problems and increased predation risk.
7. Least Chipmunk
The least chipmunk (Neotamias minimus) lives up to its name as Nevada’s smallest squirrel relative, measuring just 7-9 inches total length with nearly half that measurement consisting of tail.
These diminutive creatures display the classic chipmunk pattern: alternating dark and light stripes running from nose to rump, with five dark stripes and four light stripes creating a distinctive pattern.
You’ll find least chipmunks throughout northern and eastern Nevada’s sagebrush communities, pinyon-juniper woodlands, and mountain forests. Their remarkable adaptability allows them to thrive from valley floors to alpine zones, making them one of Nevada’s most widespread small mammals.
Unlike ground squirrels, least chipmunks spend considerable time climbing through shrubs and low trees, though they nest and store food in underground burrows.
These chipmunks maintain an omnivorous diet that shifts seasonally: spring brings a focus on green vegetation and emerging insects, summer emphasizes seeds and berries, and fall triggers intensive seed collection for winter storage.
Least chipmunks don’t hibernate in the traditional sense—instead, they enter a state called torpor, waking periodically throughout winter to feed on cached seeds before returning to sleep.
Pro Tip: Least chipmunks produce a variety of vocalizations including sharp chip calls and rapid trilling. Learning their calls helps you locate them before you spot their small, quick-moving forms darting through vegetation.
Watch for their characteristic tail position—least chipmunks typically hold their tails straight up while running, creating a distinctive silhouette. They demonstrate remarkable boldness for such small creatures, often investigating human activity with apparent curiosity while maintaining escape routes to nearby cover.
8. Lodgepole Chipmunk
Lodgepole chipmunks (Neotamias speciosus) inhabit the forested mountain slopes of western Nevada, particularly around Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada range.
These medium-sized chipmunks measure 8-10 inches total length and display subtle but distinctive markings: facial stripes that are more brownish than black, and body stripes that appear less contrasting than those of the least chipmunk.
You’ll encounter lodgepole chipmunks primarily in coniferous forests dominated by lodgepole pine, Jeffrey pine, and red fir, typically between 6,000-10,000 feet elevation.
They’re named for their strong association with lodgepole pine forests, though they readily inhabit other coniferous forest types throughout their range. These chipmunks spend more time in trees than least chipmunks, frequently foraging on branches and storing food in tree cavities in addition to underground caches.
Their diet emphasizes seeds from various conifer species, supplemented with fungi, berries, insects, and green vegetation. Lodgepole chipmunks collect and cache impressive quantities of food during late summer and fall, creating scattered storage sites rather than single large caches—a strategy called scatter-hoarding that reduces the risk of total food loss to competing animals.
Like least chipmunks, lodgepole chipmunks enter torpor during winter rather than deep hibernation, waking periodically to feed on stored provisions.
Their winter activity level depends heavily on snow depth and temperature, with individuals in milder winters remaining more active than those facing heavy snowpack and extreme cold.
Key Insight: Lodgepole chipmunks serve as important seed dispersers for Nevada’s mountain forests. Seeds they cache but never retrieve may germinate, contributing to forest regeneration—a process called inadvertent seed planting.
9. Douglas Squirrel
Douglas squirrels (Tamiasciurus douglasii), also called chickarees, bring intense energy and vocalization to Nevada’s western mountain forests.
These small tree squirrels measure 10-14 inches total length and display olive-brown to grayish-brown upper parts with orange-to-rusty undersides, particularly vivid during summer months. Their distinctive appearance includes large, bright eyes and tufted ears that become more prominent in winter.
You’ll find Douglas squirrels exclusively in the Sierra Nevada range along Nevada’s western border, where they inhabit mature coniferous forests with abundant cone production.
These highly territorial squirrels defend individual territories vigorously, creating a network of exclusive feeding and nesting areas throughout suitable habitat.
Listen for their extremely loud, scolding chatter—Douglas squirrels rank among Nevada’s most vocal mammals, producing a rapid series of chirps and barks when disturbed or defending territory.
These squirrels demonstrate remarkable adaptation to conifer seeds, with feeding behavior centered on harvesting and processing pine cones.
Watch for their cone middens—large piles of cone scales and cores that accumulate beneath favorite feeding perches, sometimes growing several feet tall over years of use. Douglas squirrels typically clip green cones before they open, storing them in cool, damp locations where they remain sealed and fresh throughout winter.
Important Note: Douglas squirrels don’t hibernate and remain active throughout Nevada’s mountain winters, relying on cached food supplies to survive. Their survival depends on adequate cone production, making them vulnerable to years of cone crop failure.
Their diet includes seeds from various conifers (with preference for pine and fir), fungi, berries, and occasionally birds’ eggs or nestlings. Douglas squirrels build several nests within their territory, constructing spherical structures from shredded bark, lichens, and plant fibers in tree cavities or branch forks.
10. Northern Flying Squirrel
Northern flying squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus) represent Nevada’s most elusive and specialized squirrel species. These nocturnal gliders measure 10-12 inches total length and display soft, dense grayish-brown fur on their backs with creamy white undersides.
Their most distinctive feature is the furry membrane (called a patagium) stretching between their front and hind legs, allowing them to glide up to 150 feet between trees.
You’ll rarely see northern flying squirrels despite their presence in Nevada’s highest elevation forests, particularly in the Sierra Nevada and isolated ranges in northern Nevada above 7,000 feet.
Their strictly nocturnal lifestyle and preference for old-growth forests with abundant tree cavities make them challenging to observe even for experienced wildlife watchers. Look for them in mature mixed-conifer and subalpine forests with large-diameter trees that provide suitable den sites.
These squirrels don’t actually fly—instead, they launch from high perches and extend their limbs to stretch the patagium, creating an airfoil that allows controlled gliding descent to lower trunks or branches.
A flattened, rudder-like tail provides steering and braking control during glides. This gliding ability allows them to travel efficiently through forest canopies while avoiding ground-dwelling predators.
Pro Tip: Your best chance of observing northern flying squirrels involves listening for their soft chirping calls on calm nights in appropriate habitat, or looking for droppings and food remains beneath known den trees. Some individuals can be attracted to bird feeders at mountain cabins.
Northern flying squirrels maintain an omnivorous diet emphasizing fungi (particularly underground truffles), lichens, tree sap, seeds, nuts, and insects.
They don’t hibernate, remaining active throughout winter even during heavy snowfall, though they may share dens in winter for warmth conservation. These squirrels serve crucial ecological roles as truffle dispersers, helping maintain mycorrhizal fungal networks essential for forest health.
11. White-Tailed Antelope Squirrel
White-tailed antelope squirrels (Ammospermophilus leucurus) perfectly embody adaptation to Nevada’s harsh desert environments.
These small, streamlined squirrels measure 7-9 inches total length and display grayish-brown coloring with a distinctive white stripe along each side. Their most recognizable feature is their tail—held curved over their back while running, revealing brilliant white undersides that flash like a miniature flag.
You’ll encounter white-tailed antelope squirrels throughout southern and central Nevada’s low-to-mid elevation deserts, thriving in areas that would challenge most mammals.
They inhabit Mojave Desert scrublands, rocky bajadas, and creosote bush flats, demonstrating remarkable heat tolerance. Unlike most ground squirrels, these desert specialists don’t hibernate—instead, they remain active year-round, adjusting their activity patterns seasonally to avoid temperature extremes.
During Nevada’s brutal summers, watch for them during early morning and late afternoon hours when temperatures moderate. They retreat to cool underground burrows during midday heat, sometimes pressing their bodies against burrow walls to dissipate heat.
White-tailed antelope squirrels can tolerate body temperatures that would be fatal to most mammals, sometimes reaching 110°F before seeking shade.
Their omnivorous diet includes seeds, green vegetation, insects, and occasionally carrion, with feeding strategies that shift seasonally based on resource availability.
These squirrels don’t store food extensively like some species—instead, they rely on year-round foraging and an ability to extract water from food, rarely needing to drink.
Key Insight: White-tailed antelope squirrels use their tails not just for signaling but also for thermoregulation, positioning them to shade their bodies during intense heat and minimize exposed surface area during cold mornings.
12. Harris’s Antelope Squirrel
Harris’s antelope squirrels (Ammospermophilus harrisii) inhabit the southern tip of Nevada, representing the northern edge of their range which extends throughout the Sonoran Desert.
These compact squirrels measure 8-10 inches total length and closely resemble white-tailed antelope squirrels, displaying grayish-brown coloring with white side stripes and a tail held curved over the back.
You’ll find Harris’s antelope squirrels only in Nevada’s extreme southern regions, particularly around Laughlin and Searchlight, where Sonoran Desert habitat extends into the state.
Distinguishing them from white-tailed antelope squirrels requires close observation: Harris’s antelope squirrels have more grayish (rather than brownish) overall coloring, and their tail undersides show gray mixed with white rather than pure white.
These desert-adapted squirrels share many behavioral traits with their white-tailed cousins, including year-round activity, exceptional heat tolerance, and mid-day retreat to cool burrows.
They thrive in rocky desert terrain with diverse vegetation including palo verde, ironwood, mesquite, and various cacti. Watch for them foraging on the ground near rock outcrops and desert washes, where they find seeds, insects, and vegetation.
Harris’s antelope squirrels demonstrate remarkable climbing ability for ground squirrels, regularly ascending into shrubs and small trees to access seeds and flowers.
Their diet emphasizes seeds from desert plants, supplemented with green vegetation when available, insects, and occasionally cactus fruit. Like white-tailed antelope squirrels, they can survive without drinking water, obtaining sufficient moisture from food sources.
Common Mistake: Many people assume all antelope squirrels in Nevada are the same species. While white-tailed and Harris’s antelope squirrels appear similar, they occupy different ranges and habitats, with Harris’s restricted to Nevada’s southernmost Sonoran Desert ecosystems.
Nevada’s squirrel diversity reflects the state’s remarkable ecological variety, from scorching desert valleys to alpine peaks. Each species fills specific ecological niches, contributing to ecosystem health through seed dispersal, soil aeration, and prey provision for predators.
Your backyard rock squirrel and the elusive flying squirrel in distant mountains both play crucial roles in Nevada’s natural systems.
Next time you spot a bushy tail disappearing into the sagebrush or hear scolding chatter from a pine tree, take a moment to appreciate these remarkable rodents and the adaptations that allow them to thrive in the Silver State’s challenging environments.
