Tamias dorsalis
Silhouette: Chloé Schmidt · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The cliff chipmunk (Neotamias dorsalis) is a small, bushy-tailed squirrel that typically lives along cliff walls or boulder fields bordering Pinyon-juniper woodlands in the Western United States and Mexico (commonly spotted in northern Arizona to Colorado). Cliff chipmunks are very agile, and can often be seen scaling steep cliff walls. Cliff chipmunks do not amass body fat as the more common ground squirrel does. They create caches of food which they frequent during the cold winter months.
The chipmunks' size varies from 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 cm), and they weigh an average of 2.5 oz (70 g). These small creatures live to a staggering 12+1⁄2 years. The chipmunks are brown on their underside and gray on the back, with white stripes on their face.
The cliff chipmunk nests near cliffs in pinyon-juniper woodlands hence its name "cliff chipmunk". They are found at higher altitudes such as 5,000–12,000 ft (1,500–3,700 m) above sea level. A common destination for spotting the cliff chipmunk is the cliffs of the Grand Canyon. The cliff chipmunk is active mostly during the day, therefore easy to spot. The chipmunk's diet consists of juniper berries, pine seeds... Wikipedia →
Recording0:10
United States · 2024
© Lauren van Schijndel · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand Canyon National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Zion National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Cliff Chipmunk sighting in Grand Canyon National Park on a given day, based on 314 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 5th most-seen of the 18 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Cliff Chipmunk in Grand Canyon National Park on a given day, against about 30% in December, the lowest month. That is one of Grand Canyon National Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 40 mm in March.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cliff 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 parks where we can rate Cliff Chipmunk sightings, Grand Canyon National Park has the highest daily chance: about 50%. Next come Zion National Park (United States, about 10%).
Same genus: Tamias
The closest relatives of the Cliff Chipmunk that you can see in Grand Canyon National Park (genus Tamias, Eastern Chipmunks) are Uinta Chipmunk (about 20%) and Least Chipmunk (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cliff Chipmunk is recorded against all the mammals logged in Grand Canyon National Park (314 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.
