What Kind of Squirrel Has a White Belly? ID by Species

A pale belly is normal on grey squirrels and diagnostic on flying squirrels. The field marks that separate the five common species in a backyard.

By Salma November 2, 2026 3 min read Save to Pinterest

A flying squirrel with a white underside peering out of a tree cavity — Photo: SOTApapas, Pixabay Content License, via Pixabay

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A white belly is normal on a grey squirrel and diagnostic on a flying squirrel. It is the single most useful mark for separating the common backyard species.

The short answer

Eastern grey squirrels have a white to pale grey belly as standard — it is their most reliable field mark. Flying squirrels have a bright creamy-white belly against soft grey-brown upperparts, plus very large dark eyes and a flattened tail. American red squirrels show a white belly with a dark side stripe in summer. Fox squirrels are the exception, with a buff, orange or rust underside and a noticeably larger body. A squirrel that is white all over is leucistic, or albino if the eyes are pink.

Grey squirrel: white to pale grey belly — standard, not a variant
Flying squirrel: bright white belly, huge eyes, flattened tail
American red: white belly with a dark side stripe in summer
Fox squirrel: buff or rust belly, and much bigger
White all over: leucistic, or albino if the eyes are pink

The five you are likely to see

species	belly	upperparts	size	other marks
Eastern grey	white to pale grey	grey, often with brown wash	~1 lb	tail fringed with white-tipped hairs
Fox squirrel	buff, orange, rust	grey-brown to rusty	up to ~2 lb	largest tree squirrel; orange in the tail
American red	white	rusty red-brown	~½ lb	dark flank stripe in summer; ear tufts in winter
Southern flying	bright creamy white	soft grey-brown	~2–3 oz	enormous dark eyes; flattened tail; skin fold
Eurasian red	pale cream	red to dark brown	~½ lb	prominent ear tufts, dark not white

Grey against fox, which is the usual confusion

These two overlap across much of the eastern United States and get mistaken for each other constantly.

Size. A fox squirrel is roughly twice the weight of a grey. Side by side it is obvious; alone on a fence it is not
Belly. Grey is white or pale; fox is buff to rust. This is the reliable one
Tail. A grey’s tail carries white-tipped guard hairs that give a silvery halo in sunlight. A fox squirrel’s is washed orange-brown throughout
Face. Fox squirrels often show buff around the nose, eye ring and backs of the ears

Use the belly, not the colour of the back

Grey squirrels range from pale silver to almost black, and fox squirrels from grey to deep rust. Coat colour on the back is the least reliable mark on the animal. The underside is consistent.

Flying squirrels

The brightest white belly of the lot, and the one people most often fail to identify because they never see the animal.

Strictly nocturnal. Even where common, daytime sightings are rare
Very large dark eyes, for night vision
Soft, dense, almost velvety fur
Flattened tail, used as a rudder and brake in a glide
The patagium — a loose fold of skin between wrist and ankle, obvious when the animal is stretched out and invisible when it is sitting

The usual encounter is not visual. It is chirping, scuffling and a thin whistle in a roof space after dark, which gets blamed on grey squirrels and is not them: greys are diurnal and asleep.

White squirrels

Not a species.

Leucistic — white or very pale fur, dark eyes. The commonest form, and locally frequent in a few towns where the gene has become established
Albino — white fur, pink eyes. Genuinely rare, with poor eyesight and no camouflage, so they survive badly
Piebald — patches of white on an otherwise normal animal. Harmless

The eye colour is the whole test.

What a white patch somewhere else means


Pale ear fringes in winter	seasonal coat — grows in autumn, sheds in spring
A white patch over an old wound	regrowth; new fur often comes in lighter
Scattered white hairs	individual variation
Bare grey crusted skin, thin animal	mange — not a colour variation, and a sick animal

White fur is fine. Missing fur is not.

Common questions

Which squirrels have white bellies?

Several. Eastern grey squirrels have a white to pale grey belly as standard, which is their most consistent field mark. Southern and northern flying squirrels have a bright creamy-white belly that contrasts sharply with soft grey-brown upperparts. American red squirrels have a white belly separated from the back by a dark side stripe in summer. Fox squirrels are the exception — their underside is usually buff, orange or rust rather than white.

How do I tell a grey squirrel from a fox squirrel?

Size and colour of the underside. Fox squirrels are noticeably bigger, up to about two pounds against a grey's one, with a rusty or orange belly and an orange-brown wash through the tail. Grey squirrels are smaller, have a white or pale grey belly, and have a tail fringed with white-tipped hairs that gives it a silvery halo in good light.

Is a white-bellied squirrel a different species?

Usually not — it is just a normal grey squirrel. The pale underside is standard in the species rather than a variation. What is genuinely unusual is an animal that is white all over: a white squirrel with dark eyes is leucistic, and one with pink eyes is a true albino, which is rare and tends not to survive long in the wild.

What has a white belly and glides?

A flying squirrel. The combination of a bright white belly, very large dark eyes, soft grey-brown fur and a flattened tail is diagnostic, and the loose skin fold between wrist and ankle is visible when the animal is stretched out. They are strictly nocturnal, so most people never see one even where they are common — the usual encounter is a chirping sound in a roof space at night.

Do baby squirrels have white bellies?

Grey squirrel kits develop the pale underside as their coat comes in, from around three weeks. Before that they are naked and pink. The belly colour is not a useful way to age a kit — eye opening at about four weeks and first emergence from the nest at seven to eight weeks are the markers that matter.

What squirrel is grey with a white belly and a bushy tail?

Almost certainly an eastern grey squirrel, which is the default backyard squirrel across much of North America and large parts of Britain and Ireland. If it is active at night with oversized eyes it is a flying squirrel instead, and if it has a dark line along the flank separating back from belly it is an American red squirrel.

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