Why Do Squirrels' Ears Turn White? Winter Coat and Age

White ear tufts are a seasonal coat change in grey and red squirrels, not illness. When they appear, which species get them, and what white patches mean.

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

A red squirrel with dark winter ear tufts on a snow-covered bird table — Photo: Ralphs_Fotos, Pixabay Content License, via Pixabay

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White ears are the winter coat, not an illness and not age. The fringes grow in through autumn, peak in midwinter, and disappear in the spring moult.

The two moults

moult	timing	direction	result
Spring	April–June	head to tail	shorter, thinner summer coat; tufts shed
Autumn	September–November	tail to head	dense winter coat; ear fringing grows in

The tail is the exception — it moults only once a year, in summer, which is why a squirrel’s tail can look out of step with the rest of it.

A moulting squirrel looks genuinely scruffy: uneven, patchy, sometimes with a visible line where the new coat meets the old. It lasts a few weeks and resolves on its own.

By species

Eastern grey squirrel — pale cream to white fringing on the ear edges and behind the ears in winter. Most noticeable in northern populations
Red squirrel (Eurasian) — prominent ear tufts, usually dark brown to black, grown for winter and shed in summer. The tufts are the field mark
American red squirrel — modest winter ear fringing
Fox squirrel — much less pronounced
Southern populations of all of them — less again, because the winter coat change is smaller where the winter is milder

Why northern animals show it more

The ear fringes are part of a thicker coat overall, and the thickness of that coat tracks how cold the winter gets. The same species in Florida and in Ontario grows a different winter coat, and the ears are simply the most visible part of the difference.

White fur that is not seasonal

what you see	what it is
Pale ear edges, winter only	seasonal coat
A white patch on the back or flank, year-round	piebald colouring — a harmless genetic variation
A pale patch over an old wound	regrowth; new fur often comes in lighter
An entirely white squirrel with dark eyes	leucism
An entirely white squirrel with pink eyes	true albinism — rare, and they survive poorly

None of these is a health problem on its own. White and black squirrels are both colour variants of the same species rather than different animals.

What is actually a problem

The distinction worth holding onto: white fur is normal, bare skin is not.

Thin, patchy coat with bare grey crusted skin, animal thin and slow → mange
Crusty wart-like lesions round the eyes, mouth, nose and feet → squirrel pox
Both spread where squirrels concentrate, which in a garden is the feeder

Neither is treatable from a kitchen window. Take feeders down for several weeks, clean them with a dilute bleach solution, and report a cluster of sick animals to your regional wildlife agency.

Common questions

Why do squirrels get white ears in winter?

It is the winter coat. Grey squirrels moult twice a year, and the autumn moult brings in a denser, longer coat that includes pale cream or white fringing on the ear edges and often white behind the ears. The tufts grow through autumn, peak in midwinter, and are shed in the spring moult, which is why the same animal looks plain-eared in July and tufted in January.

Do all squirrels get white ear tufts?

No. Eastern grey squirrels commonly develop pale ear fringes in winter, and the effect is strongest in northern populations. Red squirrels grow prominent ear tufts that are usually dark rather than white. Fox squirrels show much less of it, and southern populations of all species show less than northern ones because the winter coat change is smaller where winters are mild.

Is a white patch on a squirrel a sign of illness?

Ear fringing is not. Isolated white patches elsewhere on the body are usually either piebald colouring, which is a harmless genetic variation, or the pale regrowth over a healed injury. What does indicate illness is bare skin rather than white fur: thinning, crusted, grey bald patches point to mange, and crusty lesions around the eyes and mouth point to squirrel pox.

When do squirrels moult?

Twice a year in most of the range. The spring moult runs roughly April to June and replaces the dense winter coat with a shorter, thinner summer one, working head to tail. The autumn moult runs roughly September to November and goes the other way, tail to head, bringing in the winter coat and the ear tufts with it. A moulting squirrel looks patchy and uneven for several weeks.

Why does my squirrel look scruffy and patchy?

Almost always moult, if the skin underneath looks normal. Moulting squirrels shed in irregular patches and can look alarming for a few weeks twice a year. The distinction that matters is the skin: normal-looking skin under uneven fur is moult, while bare grey crusted skin with an animal that is thin and slow is mange, which needs a licensed rehabilitator rather than home treatment.

Do squirrels go grey with age?

Not in the way people do. Individual squirrels can develop scattered white hairs, and older animals sometimes look slightly faded, but there is no reliable greying pattern you can age a squirrel by. Tooth wear and body condition are what researchers use instead, and neither is something you can judge from a garden window.

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A black squirrel sitting upright on grass, its coat and tail uniformly dark brown-black

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