Neotamias ruficaudus
Silhouette: Joseph Smit · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The red-tailed chipmunk (Neotamias ruficaudus) is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is found in Alberta and British Columbia in Canada and Montana, Idaho and Washington in the United States. The red-tailed chipmunk is a large species with a total length of about 230 mm (9 in) including a bushy tail of 105 mm (4 in). The mass varies from about 54 g (1.9 oz) in the spring to 60 g (2.1 oz) in the fall. Females are marginally larger than males. The head is mottled grayish-brown with dark stripes above, through and below the eye. The body is basically orange-brown with five blackish stripes separated by four pale gray, tawny or cream-colored ones. The shoulders, sides, rump and flanks are tawny or buff. The underparts are creamy-white suffused with pinkish-buff. The upper side of the tail is black suffused with pinkish-buff and the underside is tawny tipped with pinkish-buff. In winter the animal's color is greyer and less tawny.
In some areas, where range overlap with the yellow-pine chipmunk occurs, it may be difficult or impossible to distinguish the two species in the field; laboratory examination of skeletal structures may be required. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glacier National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Red-tailed Chipmunk sighting in Glacier National Park on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 21st most-seen of the 27 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Red-tailed Chipmunk in Glacier National Park on a given day, against under 5% in November to April, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-tailed 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.
Only Glacier National Park, in our data
Glacier National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Red-tailed Chipmunk sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Sciuridae
The closest relatives of the Red-tailed Chipmunk that you can see in Glacier National Park (family Sciuridae, Squirrels) are Columbian Ground Squirrel (about 80%), Hoary Marmot (about 60%) and Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-tailed Chipmunk is recorded against all the mammals logged in Glacier National Park (12 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
