Tamias townsendii
Silhouette: Chloé Schmidt · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Townsend's chipmunk (Neotamias townsendii) is a species of rodent in the squirrel family, Sciuridae. It lives in the forests of the Pacific Northwest of North America, from extreme southwestern British Columbia through western Washington and western Oregon. Townsend's chipmunk is named after John Kirk Townsend, an early 19th-century ornithologist.
A large chipmunk, adults can be 36 cm (14 in) from nose to the tip of its tail. In much of its range, it is the only chipmunk; it can be identified by its tail which is grayish above and reddish below, and by its brown coloration with indistinct tawny stripes.
Townsend's chipmunk hibernates in regions where the winter is harsh, but in other parts of its range that have a more mild climate it can be active year-round. It is omnivorous, eating a variety of plants and insects and even birds' eggs. Townsend's chipmunks in the Oregon Coast Range have higher population densities in areas with dense shrubbery, especially salal (Gaultheria shallon). In the summer and early fall, Townsend's chipmunks eat blackberries, salal berries, and thimbleberries. In the late fall, they eat acorns, huckleberries, maple seeds, thistle... Wikipedia →
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United States · 2022
© Colton Veltkamp · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
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United States · 2025
© tmary · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
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United States · 2020
© Carrie E. · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Townsend's Chipmunk sighting in Portland on a given day, based on 185 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 10th most-seen of the 27 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April to October
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Townsend's Chipmunk in Portland on a given day, against about 10% in November to March, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Townsend's Chipmunk sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 2 cities where we can rate Townsend's Chipmunk sightings, Portland has the highest daily chance: about 20%. Next come Seattle (United States, about 10%).
Same family: Sciuridae
The closest relatives of the Townsend's Chipmunk that you can see in Portland (family Sciuridae, Squirrels) are Eastern Gray Squirrel (about 50%), Fox Squirrel (about 30%) and Douglas' Squirrel (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Townsend's Chipmunk is recorded against all the mammals logged in Portland (185 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
