Dispersal usually occurs during the fall and young males move between 1 and 16 kilometers away from their natal nest. The longest recorded dispersal is 100 km. Habits and Ecology Eastern grey squirrels are active year round during the daytime. Even during the most severe winter weather they will leave their nests for short periods of time to forage for food. Activity is bimodal from late spring to autumn with peaks 2 hours after sunrise and again 2 - 5 hours before sunset.
Grey squirrels are non-territorial.
They have large overlapping home ranges which average 5 hectares in size, but can vary from 0.5 hectares to greater than 20 hectares. Males have slightly larger ranges than females, due to an increase in their range during the breeding season. Home range sizes also increase during spring and summer for both sexes and are negatively correlated with food supply and squirrel population density. Eastern grey squirrels are most commonly found in mature continuous woodlands greater than 40 hectares in size. Densities are highest in habitats composed of tree species that produce foods suitable for storing over winter such as oak, hickory and walnut.