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California ground squirrel

Otospermophilus beecheyi · Squirrels · Small game

California ground squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi): Mottled gray, light and dark brown and white, with a darker mantle and lighter gray shoulders and neck. White ring around each eye. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

California ground squirrel — verified North Ground species photograph
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Scientific name
Otospermophilus beecheyi
Family
Sciuridae
In North America
Native
Range
North-central California and west-central Nevada south to Baja California.
Biology

How to identify it

Mottled gray, light and dark brown and white, with a darker mantle and lighter gray shoulders and neck. [1][2]

White ring around each eye. [1][2]

Bushy tail in the same mixed colours. [1][2]

330-508 mm long, 280-738 g. [1][2]

Compared with the douglas's ground squirrel: The northern lineage formerly included in this species, now treated by NatureServe as O. douglasii. [1][2]

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a california ground squirrel before you act. Compared with the douglas's ground squirrel: The northern lineage formerly included in this species, now treated by NatureServe as O. douglasii.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Open areas in many plant communities from fields and grasslands to mountains; avoids deserts. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Diurnal; sunbathes; stays close to its burrow [1][2]

Lives in loose burrow colonies; most of a population may be yearlings [1][2]

May hibernate or aestivate depending on climate; active all day in warm weather [1][2]

Omnivorous, mostly green vegetation in spring and seeds, berries and nuts later; cheek pouches to carry food [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Take status not established

North Ground has not established meaningful legal take of this species. That is a gap in the evidence, not a finding that it is protected or that it is open.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

North-central California and west-central Nevada south to Baja California.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    University of Michigan Museum of Zoology