Google says American Red Squirrels change to a duller red for the winter. However, that does not at all fit what I am seeing in my backyard. What I am seeing across time does not hang together. Am I seeing two different animals or what is going on? To clarify, In 2022, a family was raised here and I saw a lot of the Red Squirrels, got a lot of photos. Then over the next year or two it tapered off so I saw very few, and then they were gone. Until this past winter. Now they’re back again, still here this spring, two of them. Note that the place is overrun with Eastern Grey Squirrels of all descriptions. (See this post.)
To show the different colourations, I’m going to post some photos of Red Squirrels from June 2022 when they first showed up on the property where I live, from February 2026, and from this spring. I realize now that I haven’t verified the ones from this spring so I posted them now.
As you can see, the animals from April 2026 are a distinctly different colour from the ones I saw earlier. I’m confident they are the same animal but just to be sure I posted them in iNaturalist just now. I would like to know what accounts for the very different colour, why are they so dull in spring? Why so bright in the middle of winter?
I, too have a very different color fox squirrel. Normally a grayish-red on their backs with a white belly fringed with red, I have this fox squirrel, which is a complete cinnamon color.
It was a sunny day with clear blue skies, according to my photos. I even found a photo with a squirrel sitting partly in sun and partly in shade. As you can see, the sunny part of its fur is not bright red like the photos of February and 2022.
Although they do change their coat with the seasons, there’s definitely variation among individuals too. I have a lot of red squirrels around my house, and sometimes during mating season there will be a dozen males chasing around after the same female. Even subtle differences in shade that I may not otherwise have noticed, become apparent when I see them all together at the same time.
I think it’s all or mostly genetic, but it’s also possible they go grey with age or something.
As far as why you’ve seen a difference between 2022 and 2026, my best guess would be that it’s just coincidence, since you only had a few individuals each time, and the color in your photos just looks like both extremes of the normal range.
Of course it’s also possible the grey-er ones have some advantage locally, like blending in better with the bark of trees planted in town, or something. Maybe they are having mixed litters but the redder ones are the first to be eaten when they leave the nest :(
As an interesting aside, I once saw a red squirrel that can only be described as “silver.” It was very, very light grey, with white highlights and a super shiny coat. Really pretty!
So what you’re saying is that it’s normal for animals to have varying shades of colour and patterns and still be the same species? That’s what I was starting to think, too, but talking with others is always helpful. Thanks for sharing this.
A silver and white red squirrel! Thanks for the heads up. I would have thought I’d stumbled on a new species of animal. I only see one or two of these red squirrels at the same time.
Yes, but who knows why? I’ve had fox squirrels that were nearly totally white - not albino. Perhaps it’s something in their diet from year-to-year. Or breeding with another squirrel that’s also a color variation. My pleasure.
